For Adventure, Thrill and Shiny Things
by CuriousHatter
Summary: A little orphan girl called Mimi and her scarecrow doll dive into the world of magic after Remus and Sirius adopt her. Why does Ollivander's ghost still haunt his shop and why are powerful magical creatures showing up where they don't belong?
1. Chapter 1 part 1

Right, then. In case anyone's wondering what this is - it's an excercise in writing, something I'm doing for my own personal amusement and improvement. This is strictly indulgent, you may find many characters who have died are alive and well, two blokes are married (leave me alone, HISS!), the main character (Mimi) is probably a Mary Sue (I don't know, it seems OCs always are), English's not my first language, yadda-yadda - you know the drill. Drop a line if you like it - my black little heart will maybe grow a size bigger from kind words. ;_;

Also, I don't own absolutely ANYTHING except OC's. Don't sue me? Please? I have nothing except my empty coffee-cream cups anyways. ;_;

Oh, ALSO - rating's just to be safe since some violence and possibly strong language may be coming up in the future.

* * *

**Chapter One: With Sticks, Puppies and Sheet-monsters**

The nights were definitely growing chillier, Mimi concluded as she felt the nippy breeze

push its way through even the tiniest cracks in her clothes. It was unusually cold for the end of September. Sure, October was just around the corner and England didn't exactly boast the warmest of climates, but this wintriness felt more like the end of Fall, ready to cross into Winter. She shuddered and hugged her friend closer to her chest, the comforting crackle of the straw he was filled with making her feel instantly warmer.

"Aren't you cold, Patchy?" she whispered as she ran, the black cat-shaped backpack bouncing against her back, "We'll be home soon."

Patchy was, in fact, a small stuffed scarecrow toy and Mimi's dearest friend. He was old and scruffy. His dirty-blonde hair poked out underneath his patched-up, pointy hat, much resembling the straw he was stuffed with which peeked out of a couple of tears here and there. He was dressed in a tiny, gray suit that looked a little like pajamas, but there were many-coloured patches sown onto it of various shapes and sizes along with a lot of love. Mimi had taken good care of her friend over the years, patching up his little suit whenever it got torn as well as sowing his black button eyes back onto his round head whenever they fell off.

Mimi finally made it out of the forest and into the moonlit courtyard of the Orphanage main building. In the pale moonlight, she was revealed to be a small child of no more than ten years old. The girl was wearing a peculiar jacket with the hood pulled over her head. It was fleece and beige with dark brown sleeves and pockets at the front. On the hood, two dark brown, stuffed cat ears were sown on so that the whole thing gave off a Siamese kitten theme. Under the jacket, the girl wore a short, denim skirt and the stockings covering her legs were blue and yellow stripped, whereas her little boots were dark brown. Completing the silly outfit was her backpack that was shaped like a large, black cat.

The girl huffed with relief when she spotted the orphanage building and its promise of warmth and her breath escaped her mouth in the form of thick, white mist. It was very cold.

She ignored the front entrance, knowing that a bell was attached to it that jingled whenever someone entered and went straight for the thick vine covering the wall next to it. The plant climbed a wooden rack that was put there for that specific purpose, but Mimi had long ago discovered that it made for a perfect ladder, leading straight up to the third floor attic window where she had established her base.

Not caring one bit for the fact that the caretakers at the orphanage would suffer cardiac arrest if they knew, Mimi jumped onto the rack and began climbing it expertly even with one arm curled tightly around Patchy. She knew every crook and bulge by heart and was safely in the attic in a matter of minutes, appreciating the warmth that suddenly engulfed her, as well as the instantaneous feeling of safety that covered her like a blanket.

No one ever came up here. As far as everyone were concerned, the shutter door leading into the corridor bellow was locked and the key long lost. Except it wasn't lost…Mimi had it.

The girl set Patchy on his blue cushion (that once served for holding pins and needles, but Mimi had taken them all out with care) and the plushie remained sitting upward, as though he were alive. Mimi had never given that bizarre habit of his much thought, but a lot of people asked her how come Patchy always sat up straight when he was just stuffed with straw.

'The same way you do," Mimi would reply, looking confused.

Now that her hands were free, the girl took a small, dusty lantern off the nearby box and lit it with a match, instantly bathing the whole attic in subtle, yellow light and making it feel even cozier.

She'd found that lantern in the forest some months ago. Dug it up from under a tree because the handle glittered at her from the grass oh so prettily. It was possibly an antique, though Mimi never even considered it ~ the roof was made of time-blackened iron with a vague, leafy pattern carved into it and the walls were of misty, yellow glass. A small doorway on its side opened to give access to the fuse and the paraffin reservoir. It looked like an actual, little glass door, even had a tiny doorknob.

Mimi got the paraffin, fuses and matches for it from the orphanage stockroom. She felt a little guilty for taking it without permission, but the little lantern glowed so prettily when she lit it up…_not_ lighting it would be more of a crime than borrowing a little cup of paraffin and a fuse or two every now and then.

With the small flame now flickering contentedly in its little glass house, the girl sat up and pulled her beige hoodie with brown cat ears off her head, revealing a mass of pitch-black, glossy hair. It was long and silky and once free of the constrains of the hood, it cascaded down her shoulders freely, its choppy ends reaching down to half her back. Some more disobedient bangs were pulled out of her vivid-blue eyes and secured behind her ear with pale-blue hairpins but one strand which stubbornly refused to join either the right or the left part of her hair remained freely falling down the middle of her face. Mimi had always liked the particular colour of her hair. In most people, black hair still had a brownish or bluish shine, but Mimi's hair was utterly and completely pitch black…like pure darkness…or shoe polish!

"We had a good hunt tonight!" Mimi said to Patchy as she took her cat-shaped backpack from her shoulder and emptied its contents on a large, blue tablecloth, spread on the floor.

Several shiny items poured out; some marbles, an old metal badge, some colourful pebbles and a pretty, empty perfume bottle. Mimi picked up the badge and held it up against the lantern light, squinting at it like an experienced appraiser would at an antique treasure.

"Do you suppose it belonged to a hero?" she asked her scarecrow plushie, "It could be hundreds of years old…maybe an explorer got it for discovering new land for England! I bet the Queen pinned it on his chest…"

She glanced at Patchy and grinned.

"In the name of Mother England, I thank you for your incredible discovery," Mimi said grandly as she pressed the badge into the plushie's straw-filled chest, "may your adventures take you to new and mysterious lands…"

Mimi pulled her hand away and the badge clattered down to the box Patchy's cushion was resting on. The scarecrow looked a little disenchanted with this.

"It's okay…" Mimi told him, patting the top of his scruffy, pointed hat, "I'll find some way to make it stick."

The distant sound of the grandfather clock in the corridor below came, signaling midnight was upon them and, as though on cue, Mimi yawned heroically.

"Acha…we were just in time." she half-said, half-yawned, "I'm so tired…come on, let's go get some sleep."

She gathered up her new treasures and carefully placed them in one of several, metal cookie boxes – the kind with idyllic countryside pictures engraved into them and then hand-painted.

After that, she mindfully snuffed out her lantern light and then carefully lowered the hatch and climbed down into the empty corridor. This hallway was usually deserted even during the day. It was the northern third floor corridor that many said was haunted.

Many times people would hear mysterious noises or find things moved even though no one was there. What they didn't know, though, was that Mimi was probably the one who made it all happen.

Because Mimi was not an ordinary little girl. She had power to make things happen. They were little things, like Patchy being able to sit up straight on his own, or any place she claimed being avoided by others unconsciously. Or sometimes, when she needed light in her attic, the little lantern would keep on burning even if it ran out of paraffin.

Sometimes things she didn't like had a tendency to fall over and break. Or if someone tried to cut off her lovely, black hair which would grow right back the next day.

These were subtle things Mimi never really paid any mind to herself, thinking they were normal occurrences. In Mimi's mind, the whole world was a mysterious, secret-filled place to explore and discover so even the little mysteries involving her were just to be expected.

However, other people didn't see it that way. Mimi has had three sets of parents adopt her from the orphanage so far, but they all brought her back, terrified, as soon as they realized that she had unusual powers.

Every time that happened was a new disappointment for Mimi, but in general she bounced back as long as she had Patchy. The scarecrow plushie had been with her for as long as she could remember and it kept all her secrets, hopes and dreams. She brought him along on all the exploring expeditions she took into the nearby forest, in search for shiny treasures. It was against the rules of course, but the only one who knew about it was Patchy. And, somehow, if Patchy was keeping a secret, it could never be found out by anyone else.

Mimi hugged him to her chest more securely as she snuck through the empty corridors, to the girls' sleeping room. As always, no one detected her and she successfully slipped into the dormitory and tip-toed amongst rows of beds before reaching her own.

She changed into her sleeping dress, washed out white just like everyone else's in the orphanage and finally settled under the covers with Patchy in her arms.

"'Night, Patchy," she whispered to him through a small yawn before she settled down and drifted off.

But even falling asleep was a promising beginning of an adventure.

* * *

The following morning, orphanage kids set off to their usual devices ~ classes, then chores and after that it was free time. The St. Miriam's Orphanage was actually fairly decent, as orphanages go. The caretakers were kind, they had a good education system, in the winter it was warm and the food wasn't too bad either. They weren't exactly the richest institution, but they were highly-regarded.

To Mimi it was home more than any of her previous adopted parents' houses. She had friends here, she knew every little nook and cranny by heart and, of course, she had her attic secret base. Not to mention the forest right outside the courtyard where she would roam every single afternoon, until late into the night.

Strangely, even at night the forest wasn't creepy. It would take on a dignified air of mystery, but it wasn't frightening. In fact, Mimi felt right at home there, exploring its depths and the occasional ruins the trees hid.

But before any of that, she had to sit through classes. Ms Anderson, their teacher, had just began to read the class the first rhyme for the day when the sound of a car driving in caught Mimi's ear and she glanced through the window next to her seat just in time to see a black, luxurious-looking car drive to a slow in front of the courtyard gates.

An excited murmur instantly spread amongst the rows of desks, as they would whenever potential adoptive parents would come to visit.

"Now, class, keep focused please!" Ms Anderson called out sternly, "They'll come around here too eventually so please be patient and remain seated so we can keep working."

Mimi sighed and turned her eyes to Patchy who was patiently seated next to her old rhymes book.

"That's one shiny car." she whispered to him confidentially, "Wonder who they'll pick…ow!"

She gasped out the last bit when something unexpectedly struck her on the back of her head. Mimi looked down just in time to see a large eraser drop to the floor and then glared over her shoulder in search of the culprit. That really hurt!

Of course, it was that jerk Milo. Milo was, like, the biggest bully around. No one liked him, but the bigger boys all hung out with him because…well…who knows? Maybe jerks just mutually attracted each other.

"Hey, freak, are you going to hog these parents to yourself too?" the blonde boy whispered to her nastily and his posse of bullies snickered all around, even though they probably couldn't hear what he was saying.

"Wha- I don't-" Mimi began, but Milo cut her off with a haughty wave of his hand.

"Nooo, of _course_ you don't," he sneered, "You just got adopted three times because you're soooo bloody perfect? Why'd they bring you back, then?"

"I-" Mimi didn't really know what to reply to that.

"Look, just do us all a favour and don't be selfish this time." Milo said, "Some of us would like to get adopted for the _first_ time, y'know?"

The girl's dark blue eyes filled with tears and she took a deep breath of helpless anger as she stood abruptly, her chair scraping against the floor loudly in the process.

"You're a big, fat, JERK!" she screamed at him and grabbed Patchy in her arms before running out of the classroom.

"Wha- Mimi!" Ms. Anderson called after her, but the girl was long gone so the woman glared at the boy, "Milo, what did you do this time?"

Milo looked positively outraged.

"Me, Ms. Anderson?" he gasped in fake outrage, "I just said the truth! It's no fair that she got picked three times. She should just sit this one out and let someone else get adopted."

His posse mumbled in agreement, but other kids didn't disagree either. Though Mimi was generally well-liked and fun to be around, it was hard not to envy her when perfect parents dropped by, got everyone's hopes up and then picked her over and over again. She was outgoing and cheerful and this drew people to her, but in the eyes of the other orphans, she just ruined all the good chances everyone had of getting a family.

Perhaps she _should_ sit this one out?

As for Mimi, she ran straight up to the third floor corridor and made her way into her attic, still in tears.

Once safely behind the closed hatch, she set Patchy down on his pillow and burst into tears.

"It's not my fault!" she sobbed, "I- I- I didn't want- they just- UGH! Milo is such a jerk!"

Sniffing loudly and with tears still streaming down her cheeks, the girl grabbed her cat-shaped backpack angrily.

"I'll show them!" she half-sobbed, half-ranted as she began stuffing everything she could get her hands on into the black backpack, "I'll run away! That way I won't ruin anyone's chances! Like Milo ever HAD any! Who'd adopt such a big jerk?"

With all her shiny treasures safely tucked into the backpack (which miraculously managed to hold all of it without even being heavy) as well as some apples she'd saved and a bottle of water, Mimi slung it over her shoulder and then grabbed Patchy in one hand and her little lantern in the other.

"Come on, let's go get my clothes and then we're out of here!"

Just as she climbed down the hatch and closed it, she heard one of the caretakers calling her name from the distance.

"Mimi!" the female voice called cheerfully, "Dear, where are you? Someone wants to see you!"

"What the-" she gasped, "They haven't even MET me!"

Looking around, she dashed down the fire escape stairway.

"There's no time to get my clothes, Patchy!" she gasped as she ran, "We'll just have to make due without it!"

She felt a pang of longing for her beloved Siamese kitty jacket, but this was more important. If they caught her now, she might get adopted again and everyone in the orphanage would hate her and the parents would probably just bring her back here in a month or so, like always.

The fire escape led her to the back yard and she dashed straight across it and into the forest.

She stopped to catch her breath when she was safely among the concealing trees, but at that moment she heard the voice of the caretaker who'd been calling her name before.

"…I'm so sorry, she was supposed to be in the classroom," she said to someone, "but sometimes she plays in the forest…she can be a bit restless sometimes…Mimi! Mimi, honey, are you out there?"

Mimi drew deeper into the woods, but couldn't resist peeking out amongst the bushes to see who was looking for her without even having met her first.

To her surprise, it wasn't a couple…or rather, it _was_ a couple of people, but they were both men, not husband and wife…

She glanced down at Patchy and looked back up again.

"I suppose you're right…" she whispered, "They _could_ be husband and husband…ack, nevermind that! We're running away!"

Well…maybe in a minute…Mimi's curiousity got the better of her and she peeked out from behind the bush to get a better look at the visitors.

They were both tall and handsome men…Mimi couldn't put her finger on how old they might be, though…both of them certainly looked older than any of her previous adopted fathers who were twenty five and thirty respectively, but other than that, she couldn't tell…she got this vague feeling that somehow regular people's age didn't apply to these two.

The taller one had long, black hair that fall down his broad shoulders and mischievous, pale-gray eyes. Mimi somehow instantly liked him – there was something…canine about him, almost, the way he eagerly looked around and grinned often. She was half-expecting him to suddenly start panting happily and grow a wagging tail.

The other one had short, mouse-brown hair and kind, golden eyes. Unlike his friend whose long, black coat awesomely hugged his strong, muscular body, he looked positively tucked into an odd, green kind of a…cloak-poncho thing? The bizarre clothing concealed his figure, but his legs, clad in pale blue jeans, were very slim, hinting that he was probably skinny.

Still, he looked bright and kindhearted and Mimi decided she liked him too.

"They seem nice." she whispered to Patchy, "Just hope they don't adopt that jerk Milo…"

Suddenly, the brown-haired man flinched a little and his golden eyes snapped up and flew right to Mimi, as if he'd heard her somehow.

Their eyes met for a split second before the girl yelped and dove back behind the bush and then ran off into the forest.

The man blinked and then smiled a little, turning to the caretaker.

"Sorry, is she about yeigh tall with black hair and blue eyes?" he asked the woman, snickering when she nodded, "I think I've found her…mind if we go talk to her?"

"No, please, talk as much as you like." the caretaker said happily, "It's a big decision, so it's better if you're sure. Especially since…Mimi hasn't had such great luck with adoptive parents so far. She got taken back three times now…I don't get it, she is such a sweet child…"

"Eh, those people just suck, is all." the dark-haired man said cheekily and winked at the woman, making her blush and giggle, "We're not like that at all, right love?"

He hooked an arm around the shorter man's waist and pulled him close to plant a loud smack in his shaggy hair.

"Siri!" the man snapped at him, "Don't say such things. Eh…nevermind…let's go find our girl…"

"Um- one moment, please," the caretaker called after them nervously, "I just wanted to ask…what made you ask for Mimi specifically? Have you met her before somewhere?"

The two men looked at each other and the dark-haired one nudged the other.

"Tell the nice lady, Remus."

"One of our friends knew a couple who'd returned an orphan girl to the orphanage because they thought she was odd in some way." Remus said, "We've been looking to adopt and when we heard…well, our hearts went out to her. So, after a bit of investigating…here we are."

The woman nodded, looking relieved.

"So that's how it is…" she smiled, "Well, don't worry, Mimi is really a sweetheart even if she's a little…um…"

She waved her hands in the air in some kind of unidentifiable gesture before finishing her thought.

"…different."

Sirius quirked an eyebrow at her skeptically. Boy, this lady was as clueless as they went.

"Don't worry, ma'am, we'll be back with her in a jippy." he said and took his husband's hand, pulling him into the forest with him.

~~~ TBC (well, obviously... _)


	2. Chapter 1 part 2

~ sorry about the split, this was a REALLY long chapter and since the thing was originally written for recreation, I hadn't bothered to split it. Here's the second half of chapter 1, hopefully I won't need to do two-parters in the future. ^,^ ~

**Chapter 1 ~ With Sticks, Puppies and Sheet Monsters (part 2)**

~previously~

_"I'll show them!" she half-sobbed, half-ranted as she began stuffing everything she could get her hands on into the black backpack, "I'll run away!"_

_"…I'm so sorry, she was supposed to be in the classroom, but sometimes she plays in the forest…she can be a bit restless sometimes…Mimi! Mimi, honey, are you out there?"_

_Sirius quirked an eyebrow at her skeptically. Boy, this lady was as clueless as they went._

_"Don't worry, ma'am, we'll be back with her in a jippy." he said and took his husband's hand, pulling him into the forest with him._

The adoption story Remus had told the woman was true in itself. He and Sirius were legally married and looking to adopt a child and Mimi's story did touch their hearts, but THAT was actually just one in an array of reasons that made them come here and ask to adopt Mimi Huggins, specifically.

For one thing, she was absolutely a young witch, there was no doubt about it. And she'd been unknowingly using magic for years now. The tricky bit was – the Ministry of Magic hadn't detected her doing so at all.

This was unheard of. Normally magical children, even when born to Muggle parents, would be immediately detected and someone would be dispatched to inform the parents of their child's gift and how to keep it secret.

However, this was not the case with Mimi. The very first time her existence was investigated was just over a month ago, when the Ministry got word that an upset Muggle couple was going around, spreading rumors about a child having magic powers.

The search of their house revealed traces of very real and very strong magic, but the Ministry's records showed no witch or wizard had been performing magic there which counteracted direct evidence.

Whatever had concealed this magical activity had to be extremely powerful.

Some more digging revealed the existence of a girl called Mimi Huggins, an orphan who had been adopted three times so far and then brought back to the orphanage when her parents realized she was not like other children.

First such time was when she was four years old. Her adoptive parents took her in when she was a baby and she grew up with them without even knowing she was adopted. However, at the age of four she began showing signs of witch powers; things around her fell over and broke, her parents couldn't find her to take her to the doctor's even though she was sitting RIGHT in the middle of the living room, giggling at them, her hair grew back when it was cut in a way she didn't like…

All these things really scared Muggles so they couldn't bring her back to the orphanage fast enough.

Mimi was now only nine years old, but her powers were already growing too fast to control. She had to start Hogwarts two years earlier than other children to learn to use them and, with special permission from the Ministry of Magic itself, Remus and Sirius were determined to make it happen.

…if they could find her, that is.

After a bit of wandering around the forest aimlessly, Sirius tripped on a moss-covered log and would've easily toppled face down if Remus hadn't grabbed him and kept him steady.

"GAH, this is ridiculous!" the dark haired man snapped, "I'm going to Change and seek her out by scent!"

"Siri, NO!" Remus retorted, sounding pretty much like someone reproaching a dog…force of habit, "We're surrounded by Muggles! If anyone sees you-"

"We're surrounded by FOREST, love!" Sirius moaned, waving his hands around to emphasize, "No one will see me AND if I Change, I'll track her down AND have a better view of your butt, so everyone wins!"

Remus grumbled a little and glared away. He was getting impatient himself…he and Siri had been looking to adopt a sibling for Teddy for around a year now, but with the prejudice against same-sex parents still lingering it hadn't been easy even with both of them being war heroes and having already raised a healthy boy.

Finally, with all their friends pulling all the strings they had (and Remus and Sirius had some powerful friends now, all former comrades from the Order of Phoenix), they were cleared to adopt and they had their hearts set on Mimi.

However, Remus dared not believe it was true until they went safely back home with her so he was eager to find her and get the procedure over with already.

"You know what…" he finally said, "Let's split up. We'll cover more ground that way."

"Wha- no, wait, what am I supposed to do if I find her first?"

"What do you mean what- _talk_ to her, Siri!"

"But what if she doesn't like me?"

Remus had to duck his head and snicker at his love's childish whine.

"She'll like you just fine, dear, I'm sure." he said good-naturedly, "Just…don't turn into a dog in front of her, okay? She probably doesn't know what an animagus is."

Sirius nodded, looking somewhat nervous.

"Alright…alright…I can do this…" he took a deep breath, pecked Remus on the cheek and then disappeared through the thick branches.

Remus chuckled fondly before doing the same, only in the opposite direction.

* * *

Mimi ran and ran until she finally reached her favourite spot in the whole forest ~ some old, moss-covered ruins she'd discovered years ago. Whatever building they were remains of, they were reduced to crumpled stone walls, now covered with vegetation and long forgotten.

However, there was a corner that provided a small shelter where the walls kept their support to part of what was probably the stone ceiling. Mimi jumped over the wall and rushed straight to that pocket of safety that would hopefully protect her from the chilly wind.

She sat down on the ground in that corner, still panting and hugged Patchy closer to her chest.

"Oh, man…it's so c-cold!" the girl mumbled through clattering teeth, "I wish I had time to grab my jacket…maybe we can sneak back in tonight and get my clothes…and some food…man, I'm hungry…"

A sudden rustle nearby made her flinch with a gasp and look over, but nothing was there except the…unusually dark…forest.

Mimi retreated deeper into the corner, hugging Patchy closer. The forest felt different today…dark and threatening, unlike ever before. She hadn't noticed while she had been running, but now that she had time to sit and look around, she just desperately wanted to be somewhere else.

Another rustle from a bush nearby startled her and this time she looked over just in time to see something black and fluttery disappear behind a thick tree trunk.

"What the-" Mimi uttered before something black, hairy and huge jumped out in front of her.

Mimi's scream broke out so loudly that flocks of birds took off from the branches of all nearby trees, afraid for their life.

The girl grabbed her backpack off of her shoulder and was about to smack the THING with it when a terrified whimper coming from it stopped her and she cracked one dark-blue eye open to see that the THING was not a monster at all.

"It's a puppy!" she gasped out, half-relieved, half-overjoyed and Sirius' black ears twitched in amusement. _Puppy_? He was in the form of a huge, mastiff at least twice the girl's size, but he didn't get to argue that point when a giggling, black-haired girl all but threw herself at him, hugging him around the neck happily.

"Puuuupyyyy!" Mimi giggled as she huggled the confounded dog, "I'm sorry I almost hit you! There's something weird in the forest and I- kyaaa, you're so soft!"

Sirius huffed to himself defeatedly, his black tail patting the grassy ground lightly, against his will. The little girl's hug was warm and honest and her silky, black hair tickled his nose pleasantly. Dogs enjoyed these things.

But wait…what was that she said? Something weird in the forest? Sirius' mindset was…somewhat simplified when he was in his animagus form, more instinct than reason-oriented, but even so this sounded like trouble.

More so when his sensitive ears picked up a suspicious rustle behind his back. Sirius used one large paw to gently push Mimi away in order to turn around and sniff the air.

There was definitely _something_ out there, but he couldn't pick up any scent of it…that, in itself was weird.

"You heard it too, Puppy?" Mimi asked fearfully, "The forest was never like this before, I-"

Suddenly there came a loud, flapping noise, like when someone would flap a sheet to straighten it and something black landed on top of them in a flop.

At first Mimi thought someone had thrown a black sheet on them – the thing felt thin, cold and soft and it clung to every bit of her body it touched. However, she immediately realized that it was _moving._ And not just moving ~ it was squeezing harder, plastering itself all over her face and filling her nose and mouth, preventing her from breathing.

It was _alive_ and it was trying to suffocate her!

She would've screamed, but could pull no air into her lungs. From somewhere nearby, she heard a short growl and the THING was suddenly pulled off her with such force that Mimi staggered forward and fell to her knees and hands, coughing and gasping for breath.

A snarl and then the sound of clattering teeth made her head snap up and she realized that the puppy was wrestling the Thing desperately only a few steps away.

It _did_ look like a black sheet, now that she got a better look at it. It was so tightly wrapped around the dog's powerful form that every muscle on its body showed through the thin matter of the strange creature.

"Oh, man!" Mimi gasped, staggering up to her feet somehow with Patchy in her arms, "Oh man…oh, man…it's choking the puppy! Patchy, what do we do?"

She looked around frantically for a solution, the dog's whimpers, snarls and snapping of his teeth making her flinch every second. There were branches and stones scattered about, but the Sheet-Monster was so thin that she'd probably hurt the puppy more than it if she struck it.

A sound between a whimper and a hack came from the dog and Mimi looked over to see the animal lying on its side, still struggling but with much less vehemence. He was losing his strength.

"Ng…LEAVE THE PUPPY ALONE!" she suddenly roared from the bottom of her lungs and all but tackled the Sheet-monster, grabbing fistfuls of it and pulling it from the dog's head with all her strength.

The Sheet-Monster let out a sound between a hiss and a growl and suddenly puffed itself up like a balloon with such force that Mimi felt herself literally thrown off.

She screamed as she flew backward and landed a couple of feet away, mercifully on the soft, mossy forest ground.

The Sheet-Monster looked angry as it left the dog to glide towards the reeling little girl in pretty much the same way a medusa moved through the water, by puffing up its head and then deflating the air from its back to move in short, jet-fast glides.

Mimi gasped and pushed against the ground with her legs, sliding away from the creature backwards. At one point, her hand landed on a rock and she picked it up and threw it, but the Sheet-monster wasn't even slowed down. Though it looked like soft, black silk, the rock just bounced off it, as if it had hit a brick wall.

Mimi whimpered when she felt her back hit the stone wall, meaning she could move back no further and the creature now slowly glided over to a halt in front of her. Only now Mimi could see that on one corner it actually had two tiny, crimson eyes that glowed hungrily as the creature began to rise up to loom over her like some kind of a wireless umbrella.

"_It's gonna eat me!"_ Mimi suddenly realized just as the creature lunged at her and she only had enough time to curl away from it, hugging Patchy to her chest tightly to protect him.

"Experto Patronum!" someone suddenly roared and Mimi heard a loud noise right above her head that sounded like someone hitting a hanging sheet with a baseball bat with all their strength ~ POW! The noise was immediately drowned in the creature's high-pitched shriek of agony.

Mimi's eyes flew open to see what happened, but the girl immediately gasped and squeezed them shut again when a surge of white light blinded her.

A moment after, someone grabbed her shoulders gently, and a scent of aftershave filled her nostrils as she was pulled in a warm, soft hug.

"It's okay, it's okay, sweetie, it's gone." a gentle, male voice murmured into her hair and Mimi finally deemed it was safe to crack one eye open and see what was going on.

She found that she was pressed face-first into a mass of thick, soft green clothes that covered the chest and arms of the man hugging her and stroking her hair. Looking up, she met a pair of worried, warm golden eyes and gasped, pointing her finger up at the man's face.

"You're that guy!" she gasped, "Did you see that THING? What was that? What did you just do? Is it dead? Did you kill it?"

Remus opened his mouth, but Mimi suddenly gasped and pushed against his chest.

"PUPPY!"

"Puppy?" Remus repeated as the girl tore away from him and ran around him and then towards a large mass of black fur, lying motionlessly on the grassy ground.

His golden eyes flew wide when he recognised it.

"Siri!" Remus gasped and ran over to where Mimi was already hugging the dog's head to her chest, crying her eyes out.

"Don't die, puppy!" she sobbed, tears streaming down her face in torrents, "You're so cute and that monster k-k-k-k-KILLED yooou!"

"Dear, let me see, please?" Remus instructed her gently, somewhat amused through his worry which had lessened considerably when he saw that the dog was, indeed, still breathing.

Mimi let him feel up the dog's throat with his fingers and then watched in confusion as the brown-haired man reached into his pocket and pull out a long, thin wooden rod…type thing.

She immediately gasped and pulled the dog's head to her chest again protectively.

"What are you doing with that stick?"

"Just watch…" Remus told her secretively, his knowing smile reassuring the girl that he was going somewhere with this.

Remus pointed the stick straight at the dog's throat and cleared his throat before,

"_Episkey_!" he pronounced, loudly and clearly, a word Mimi had never heard before.

More strangely, the tip of the stick flashed and glowed some pale-blue light on the dog's throat which immediately seemed to constrict and then relax before the dog took a deep breath and then suddenly sat up with a happy yelp.

Mimi was dumbstruck for a second before she threw herself at the fully-recovered pooch.

"PUPPY!" she squealed as she squeezed the dog's neck, "I'm so glad you're okay! I- what the-"

She felt the neck she was hugging suddenly flex and twist as it changed shape and the dog grew in height rapidly, pulling her upward with it.

After a dumbstruck moment, Mimi yelped and let go as if burned, which sent her landing bottom first on the mossy ground.

"Ouch…" she groaned and then looked up to see not the puppy, but the dark-haired man she'd seen before.

Mimi gaped up at him speechlessly as Remus reached up and brushed some messy, black hair from the man's forehead gently.

"Are you okay, dear?" he asked warmly and Sirius looked grouchy, but grateful for the coddling.

"Yeah, I'm fine." he grumbled, even as he turned his head a little to nuzzle the palm caressing his face, "What the bloody hell _was_ that thing?"

"A Lethifold," Remus replied darkly, "I've only read about them…they're supposed to be rare and they're indigenous to tropic areas…someone set it loose here on purpose."

Sirius rubbed his neck uneasily.

"I thought it was going to be the end of me." he grumbled, "Couldn't even change back into a human, it was clutching me so tightly…how did you beat it?"

"Patronus charm." his lover replied with a rueful grin, "It's about the only thing that works on them. Good thing I got here when I did…it was about to devo-"

He managed to stop himself just short of saying 'devour' in front of Mimi and both he and Sirius seemed to remember her and glance down to where she was still sitting on the ground, flabbergasted.

The girl's dark-blue eyes suddenly flashed in anger and she pointed a condemning finger at Sirius.

"You're not a puppy!" she accused him and Sirius ducked his head with a rueful chuckle.

"Nope, guess I'm not." he admitted.

"Why were you pretending to be one?"

"I wasn't, I'm a-" he began and then trailed off helplessly, realizing that any sensible explanation would take hours. He gave it a little thought before he bent down and crouched in front of the glaring little girl, "I promise we'll explain everything soon, but we should get back now, everyone's probably worried."

"Oh, _fine_." Mimi sighed and rose from the ground, dusting off her blue denim skirt.

She picked up her backpack and slung it over her shoulder and was just about to start walking when she realized two hands were extended to her – one from Sirius one from Remus. Looking up and seeing them smiling down at her, she grinned as well and took both their hands with one of her own, Patchy slung over her shoulder comfortably.

* * *

After they returned to the orphanage, Sirius and Remus headed straight to the Matron's office to take care of the paperwork. The stern-looking woman with graying hair hesitated when she presented them with the documents to sign.  
"Before you sign the papers," she said uneasily, "I should probably tell you that Mimi has had problems with adoptive parents before."

"Yes, we've heard the story." Sirius sighed, somewhat impatiently, "It's what made us ask for her in the first place."

He felt Remus nudge his knee with his own gently and looked over to his husband who was sitting in the chair next to him to see his golden eyes warmly advising patience.

Sirius settled down a little, though reluctantly. He didn't see why they had to bother with all this Muggle paperwork and procedures, he just wanted to take Mimi home already. The Ministry should've just sent a team of Obliviators to simply erase everyone's memories of her.

"I'm aware of that," the Matron sighed, "but I need to be sure you understand that all this history has made Mimi…very wary. Her last adoptive parents said she wouldn't even call them 'mom' and 'dad', as if she was expecting to be taken back any day then."

"You have nothing to worry about, I assure you." Remus told her warmly and his gentle, calm attitude seemed to cause the woman to relax unconsciously, "Sirius and I have already raised a child, my son Ted. We're not new to this and we're not quitters either. I'm absolutely sure Mimi is our girl."

"Oh, really, you already have a son?" the Matron perked up, "Ah…if you don't mind my asking…his mother?"

Remus' already pale face seemed to whiten even more and his jaw tightened as he forced our a reply.  
"She…she died." he said sadly and the woman nodded vigorously.

"Ah, I see, forgive me." she said, "Well, I see no reason to delay this any longer…both of you, sign here, here and here and you can take her home by the end of the day!"

Both men sighed a discreet breath of relief. _Finally!_

* * *

Only several hours later, Mimi was seated in the back seat of the same, expensive, black car that she watched roll into the courtyard magnificently from the classroom window only a short while ago.

She hugged Patchy closely to her chest as she watched the familiar orphanage building grow distant once more through the window, not altogether sure how to feel about this whole thing.

Sure, these guys seemed nice but then again, so did all her previous adopters. Just in case, she decided not to get all comfortable with them too soon.

Still, there was one, tiny hope in her heart. All her previous adoptive parents ended up bringing her back because she was weird. Well, these two were weirder than she could ever hope to be, maybe they'll be fine with it.

"So…" she finally spoke up when the orphanage was blocked completely out of sight by tall trees next to the highway, "Uh…can you explain stuff now, like you promised, Mr. Black?"

Sirius gave her a despairing look over his shoulder.

"Please don't call me that," he asked her, looking pitiful, "it makes me feel old."

"You _are_ old." Mimi pointed out, making Remus chortle briefly, sobering up when his husband shot him a hurt glare.

Sirius then turned his gray eyes back at his new adopted daughter.

"I'm _not_ old." he stated, "So don't go calling me Mr. Black."

"Can I call you Mr. Puppy?" Mimi perked up, making Sirius choke a little.

"_No_." he ground out, "Call me- uh…"

He reddened a bit as he ground it out, "…call me dad or something."

Mimi sobered up and looked away to stare through the window.

"Maybe later." she said, after a pause, "So, you gonna explain stuff or what? What was that Sheet-thing? And how come you can turn into a puppy? And what's with those little sticks? And-"

"Mimi," Remus interrupted her, a smile tugging at his lips as he caught the girl's dark-blue eyes in the rear view mirror, "Explaining all that stuff will take days and weeks and months. There's more to learn than you could've ever imagined. But there's one thing you should know before anything else ~ Sirius and me, we are both wizards. Those 'sticks' were our wands which I used to cure Sirius' hurt throat and that's why Sirius can turn into a dog."

Mimi blinked, her jaw dropping slightly at the unexpected, blunt explanation.

"I…I don't believe you!" she gasped out without thinking, unable to comprehend that something so awesome was possible, despite what she'd witnessed earlier.

"I thought you'd say that." Remus replied with a small smile before glancing at his husband, "Siri, could you cast the concealment charm?"

Sirius grinned, knowing what was next and pulled out his own wand, waving it in a circle as he clearly pronounced, "_Obscuro!"_

Mimi looked around but could see nothing different, but then the entire car suddenly buckled and then literally _jumped_ into the air, climbing in height at a sharp angle from the highway.

Mimi sat frozen and shocked in her seat, watching the treetops slowly move down through the window and then disappear before she jumped up and glued herself to the window.

"We're FLYING!" she half-squealed, half-gasped, "Man, that is so cool! We're- we're really flying! Patchy, look how high we are!"

She turned to the very amused two men in the front seats.

"This is a _magic_ car, isn't it?" Mimi said knowingly, causing Sirius to snicker.

"No kidding." he said amusedly, "A family friend fixed it up for us. And trust me, it only gets cooler from here. Now sit down and buckle up, missy. We're speeding up."

Mimi obeyed enthusiastically, squealing in delight as the car suddenly accelerated, the moment she was done putting on her seatbelt.

"This is so AWESOME!" she screamed happily as the magical car took her away to a new life of magic, secrets and adventure.

**~End of Chapter One**

**_Next Time:_**

_**"Most of the stuff we don't know what it's for," Sirius had said at one point, "we just stuff into the attic."**_

_**"Teddy, we're home!" Remus called out in a vaguely upward direction, "Come on down to meet someone!"**_

_**"No way can I sleep now, Patchy." she told her friend excitedly, "It's expedition time! I bet this house has secrets and I'm going to find them all out!"**_

PS: The recap and preview stuff is...meh, spur of the moment thing. I wanted to try something a little different. Let me know if it annoys you and I'll knock it off. Well - see you in a week or so...review, folks! Tell me what you hate or like! I'm always open to constructive criticism. ;)_  
_


	3. Chapter 2

Quick Note: I used the exact same thing the portrait of Siri's mother screams in the book because in my mind them magical pictures of the Potterverse are like some sort of recorded moments, replaying themselves over and over. Just easier that way. Still don't own anything even remotely J.-ish. ;_;

**Chapter Two: Number 12 Grimmauld Place**

When the black car finally approached London, it glided gently down back to the highway and then flickered into visibility once more while passing through a dark tunnel.

It was about time too. Mimi was getting fidgety in the back seat of the car. For the greatest part of the long trip, Remus and Sirius have been telling her about her new adoptive brother Teddy, the magical school he was going to, Hogwarts, and the bizarre house at number 12 Grimmauld Place where they all lived.

Oh, the house. Mimi couldn't wait to explore it. Apparently, it's been a home to a rather nutty wizarding family for centuries and was full of secrets and strange magics that even Sirius and Remus had trouble understanding.

"Most of the stuff we don't know what it's for," Sirius had said at one point, "we just stuff into the attic."

Apparently, there was something called an "extension charm" in effect in the attic which made the room a million times larger on the inside and capable of holding much more stuff than it would normally be able to.

The very thought of all the mysteries hidden away there to be discovered, made Mimi's fingertips itch.

So, she was somewhat disappointed when the car drove to a halt in front of two very non-descript buildings, neither of which resembled a house. They were apartment buildings, by the looks of it, both very old and covered in graffiti.  
"Alright, everyone out!" Remus ordered cheerfully as he killed the engine, "I have to Vanish the car."

Mimi had never heard someone use the word 'vanish' as a transitive verb before, but she figured she didn't want to be in it when it happened. She quickly unbuckled her seatbelt and grabbed her backpack and Patchy while Sirius unloaded her bags and suitcases from the trunk.

Remus opened the door for her and Mimi hopped out of the car, eagerly glancing around for anything that resembled the magical house from Remus' and Sirius' stories, but wherever she looked, there were only apartment buildings.

People walked by every now and then, but no one even gave them a second glance, as though they were invisible or something.  
"We're technically in our driveway," Sirius told her confidentially as he picked up one of her suitcases in each hand, "so we're under the cover of the spell that's protecting the house…see the numbers on these buildings?"

Mimi looked at the small, black plates. The one on the left building said 10 and the one on the right said 14.  
"We're at number twelve Grimmauld Place, Mimi." Sirius spoke on, looking uncharacteristically…well, serious.

The moment Mimi heard the street name and number, the buildings in front of them seemed to move and then move away from each other, as if being nudged out of the way by the unusual, black house that slowly grew into existence between them.

Mimi's jaw literally fell as she gaped up at the tall, outrageous "house" that had by now grown to almost twice the height and width of the neighboring, apartment buildings. It was black and old-fashioned, with tall, foreboding windows shackled in iron decorations.

A worn set of front steps led up to a bizarre, black door that had no handle, keyhole or pretty much _anything_ on it except for a silver knocker in the shape of a silver snake. Next to the door, the same black plate as those on other buildings showed a smudged, white number 12.

"Remember one thing, Mimi," Remus told her as he joined Mimi and Sirius, "now that you know the street number of our house, you're one of it's Secret Keepers. No one can find it unless you tell them where it is, like we told you so be careful. Only tell someone you absolutely trust not to spread it around."

Mimi nodded mutely, squeezing Patchy to her chest and then remembered something and turned around, looking for the car they came with. It was gone without a trace.  
"Aaaaw…I wanted to see the car get Vanished…" she sighed and Sirius chuckled a little.

"You'll have your chance, don't worry." he said, "But right now, it's time for a tour."

They climbed the stairs and Mimi watched curiously as Sirius opened the door by tapping it with his wand.  
"Teddy, we're home!" Remus called out in a vaguely upward direction, "Come on down to meet someone!"

There was a faint crash from upstairs and then a door was slammed before someone came thundering down the stairs.

"Don't run down the stai-" Sirius had begun to shout but it was too late as a twelve year old boy appeared at the top of the stairs that led up through a nearby door on the left wall.

"Sorry, sorry!" the boy panted as he rushed down the rest of the stairs to join them, "I dozed off waiting for you guys! Where's- oh…"

He stopped in his tracks, gaping at Mimi who gaped right back at him in return.

The boy's appearance was…somewhat peculiar, when compared to what she had been used to.

He had pale-brown eyes and hair of matching colour. It was long and fell down his shoulders while his bangs were short and somehow seemed to grow to the left as they fell into his eyes.

But that wasn't what had Mimi's eyes huge and sparkling. The boy had all sorts of beads and ribbons weaved into his hair, as well as several necklaces of varying length, all consisting of black leather straps which had some sort of colourful stones hanging from them. He also wore shiny, silvery rings and bracelets and all around, let it be said that he reflected a lot of light.

They stared at each other for a moment, Mimi in her Siamese kitty hoodie and short, denim skirt, as well as brown boots, and the boy also in a hoodie, although his was black with red-stripped sleeves which he'd rolled up and white faux-fur lining the edge of the hood before both of them exclaimed in unison.

"SHINY!" Mimi cried out excitedly.

"CUTE!" the boy practically squealed in a not too manly manner.

Just as he rushed to her, Mimi practically jumped into his arms and they giggled together as he picked her off the ground in an excited hug and she tried to grab any of the many trinkets hanging off of him.

Sirius sighed and looked at his husband skeptically.  
"Well, looks like we have _two_ weird children now." he said before giving both of them a mock-glare, "Come on you two, break it up! You're supposed to do that AFTER we introduced you!"

"Oh, right!" the boy seemed to remember and set Mimi down again, "I'm Ted, what's your name?"

"Mimi," Mimi said, still grinning, "Mimi Huggins. Um…can I braid your hair later?"

"Sure, can I braid yours?"

"Sure!"

"I like you, come on, I'll show you around!"

"Wait, we're supposed to-" Remus tried to protest helplessly, but the two newly-acquainted siblings were already scampering off down the hallway, hand in hand.

"Looks like we're not needed anymore," Sirius chuckled, "Now let's catch up with them and make sure she _doesn't_ actually braid his hair…the boy looks girly enough."

"Hey, leave him alone, he can dress any way he likes, Siri."

"I know, I know," Sirius snickered, "But come on – you have to let me tease him a _little_?"

"No! Be nice!"

While they bickered away, Ted and Mimi were already halfway down the hallway where the boy stopped in front of a large set of red curtains.  
"Hey, check this out!"

Remus, who was still bickering with Sirius some steps behind, saw his son grab the dangling piece of thick, decorative rope, clearly intending to pull it.  
"Teddy, no!"

But it was too late, the rope was pulled and instantaneously, an inhumane shriek broke out, vaguely female.

"_Filth! Scum! By-products of dirt and vileness!"_

Mimi yelped and ducked behind Ted, as it looked as if a very ugly old lady had popped out from behind the curtains and was screaming her lungs out.

"_Half breeds! Mutants! Begone from this place!"_

"It's okay, Mimi, look!" Ted said to the frightened girl, "She's just a picture."

A picture? Mimi peered out from behind of him and, upon closer inspection, confirmed that the woman was, in fact, two-dimensional. It was as if she was looking at a flat TV screen.

"_How dare you befoul the house of my father's-"_

"That's enough." Sirius said sternly as he pulled the curtains back on.

"Was that really a picture?" Mimi asked breathlessly.

"All magic pictures are like that." Ted told her, "Come on, I'll show you the basement!"

"Teddy, no, it's dusty down there!" Remus called out helplessly, but the kids were already long gone.

"Oh, stop fretting." Sirius grinned at him, "We had kids here when this place was ten times worse."

It was true. Two decades after this was the Order of the Phoenix's hideout, the house was nearly unrecognizable. It was now clean, aerated and much brighter. Remus and Sirius have done a LOT of work on it over the years and they still weren't done, but at least it no longer felt like a trap-filled tomb.

The curtains were pulled off all the windows, allowing the sunlight in and the walls were now painted a soothing shade of beige while the skirting boards were dark brown. The hallway almost imperceptibly widened into a huge entrance hall, decorated in pretty much the same manner.

Mimi gaped all around, marveling at the sheer size of the place. Not only was the room they were in now ridiculously large, but the ceiling was also incredibly high. Speaking of the ceiling, a magnificent chandelier hung from the very center of it, glittering brilliantly in the afternoon sunlight that freely poured inside through the windows. This might've been a ballroom once, but now at the left side there was a bright, cheery kitchen and at the other a white dining table with chairs all around it and a beautiful, brown piano next to it all.

Still, judging from the three dirty plates piled up on the kitchen counter that had bar stools all around it, Mimi figured this was where the family ate when there were no guests. Walking all across the hall with a pot of stew to get to the table did seem like a hassle.

But right now, all of that didn't matter especially to Mimi – she was busy admiring the glittering chandelier waaaay high above her.

"Shiny…" Mimi uttered in awe as she gaped up at it before she seemed to remember something, "Wait…isn't the house surrounded by buildings? Where's all this sun coming from?"

"Magic, of course." Ted replied cheerfully, "The ceiling of the great dining hall in my school has the same enchantment on it, it shows the exact same weather as it is outside, like you're under the open sky."

"This place was a dump when we moved in here." Sirius grumbled, "My family was full of nutty wizards and witches who enjoyed cobweb and darkness and eating little kids so they had the place decorated the same style, pretty much…see that dresser with the fancy china?"

"Uh-uh…" Mimi nodded.

"Well, back when we started fixing the place up," Sirius spoke on ominously, "A family of spiders as large as the saucers lived there!"

"Siri, don't tell her that!" Remus scolded him when Mimi gasped and ducked behind Ted for protection from the spiders of the past.

"Come on, the basement, the basement!" Ted urged them impatiently, "You won't believe how big it is!"

"There's nothing in the basement." Remus snapped, "It used to be the kitchen but now we use it for storage and the boiler is down there. I'm sure Mimi would rather see the rest of the house first…like _her room_, for example?"

Mimi's ears immediately pricked up and her dark blue eyes flew to Remus' face in disbelief.  
"I have my own room?"

"On the top floor." Remus grinned back at her.

"Across the hall from mine." Ted added.

"Yeah, it was my brother's old room once." Sirius finally topped it all off as they reached the stairway and began slowly climbing up, "Teddy got my old room since it already had all the Gryffindor decorations. We completely re-decorated Regulus' old room for you, though. Teddy did most of it, so I'm sure it's girly enough for you."

"Hey!" Ted snapped, though he didn't seem particularly annoyed. Apparently, this was a teasing argument he and Sirius had often, "That's rich, coming from a guy who's married to another guy."

"Boy, that has nothing to do with anything." Sirius retorted as they reached the first landing, "A man should be MANLY. Like me. Allow me to demonstrate."

"Oh, Merlin, not _this_ again." Ted groaned jokingly as Sirius leaned down towards Mimi and bent his arm up in front of her which made his bicep pop up.

"Touch my muscles!" he said and Mimi eagerly jumped up and grabbed his upper arm with both hands, giggling when Sirius pulled her off the ground a little bit, "See! Hard as a rock!"

"Oh, come on!" Teddy snickered nastily, "We all know you cast a Duro charm on your arms every day."

"_What_? Why you little- get over here!"

"Hey, knock it off!" Remus barked at both his son and his husband, "We're in the middle of a tour here!"

He huffed exasperatedly when they both settled down a little.  
"Now," Remus said with thick dignity, "We have three bedrooms on the first landing…this one here is where Sirius and I sleep."

"The other two are guest rooms." Sirius interjected while they carried on up the stairs from the first landing which was, honestly, more like a small hallway, "Now the first floor kind of grew into a leisure section for the family."

Mimi watched in awe as they reached the top of the stairs and an enormous quantity of sheer space greeted her.

"We had all the walls knocked down, leaving just the support beams since there was a lot of nasty stuff attached to the walls with a permanent sticking charm," Remus said, pointing his finger to the far left of the room where there was the only section of the floor that wasn't covered in a rug, but a linoleum floor instead. There were canvases and painting equipment scattered all around it and the area was surrounded by tall windows, offering a lot of light, "That there is the drawing 'room', over there you'll see the library, further down is the TV-room…uh…we don't get any of the Muggle channels, though…"

"Muggle?"

"Non-wizards." Teddy filled her in gracefully.

"That's right," Remus nodded before concluding, "And over there is the study where Siri and I work, Teddy does his homework and such."

Up the stairs they went again and the next floor was basically just a long hallway with four doors on each side.  
"The guestroom floor." Sirius explained, "You might think this is too much, but trust me, when our friends and their families drop by for holidays it's packed full."

"Other than that, not much to see here…" Remus added and led them up the next flight of stairs, "Up we go again."

"Pretty much the same thing on third floor." he said when they reached the next floor, slightly out of breath now, "No real rule, but when our friends come to visit, this is usually where their kids, Teddy's friends, sleep while the parents sleep in the guest rooms below."

"Come oooon, let's move on to the best floor in the house!" Teddy grinned and all but pulled Mimi up the stairs.

"Oi, take it easy will you!" Remus called out after them breathlessly, "Some of us ain't that young anymore!"

The following flight of stairs was the longest and it wound spirally upward for at _least_ one floor more, though there weren't any landings or doors to go through until they finally reached the top where there was just a small hallway with two doors, one on each side.

The door on the left had a large poster on it with a bunch of people dressed in black and white robes with what looked like a magpie on their chest. The zipped around on _broomsticks_ of all things, grinning like they were having fun while they passed around a large, brown…vaguely ball-like things. Although Mimi had never seen a leather ball with so many dents in it. Every now and then a girl would zip by, chasing something wicked-fast and golden. The large, black letters at the top of the poster said 'Montrose Magpies'.

"Uh…" Mimi said pointing to the poster, too confused to figure out what to ask first.

"Oooohhh, Quidditch." Teddy said, a delighted grin spreading all across his face, "Don't worry, I'll give you a full course on that later. For now, let's just say…it's the best thing in the history of EVERYTHING!"

"Anyway, that's Teddy's room over there." Remus said quickly, knowing that if he didn't distract his son from talking about Quidditch, Teddy would go on and on and on about it, "And here, is your room, Mimi."

Mimi all but whipped around and happily followed Remus to the other door which was painted a soothing shade of beige.

When he slowly opened them, her eyes grew two sizes as she gaped at what could only be described as the most awesome place in the history of awesome places.

First of all, it was HUGE. Seriously huge. Mimi had never had a room of her own before so she was used to sleeping in one large dorm with dozens of other kids, but even by her standards, this room was _huge_.

The walls were painted the same beige colour as the door and there was a generally beige theme prevalent in the décor, while some wood detailing were dark brown. The ceiling was slanted, indicating that the room was directly under the roof, and it was covered in wooden boards, giving everything a cozy air.

The bed was huge and wonderful, with three, large, fluffy pillows stacked in the top and soft-looking beige sheets covering it.

There was also a small writing desk just under the largest window that looked out to clear, blue sky. It was open and the feather-light, white drapes were swaying under a gentle breeze, so Mimi could tell that this was not some kind of magic-induced optical illusion. The room was so high up that no buildings nearby could block the view.

In the bottom of the bed was a large toy chest, crammed full with apparently just about anything that Remus, Sirius and Teddy could think of stuffing in there. It was burgundy with golden detailing, painted so it looked like a pirate treasure chest.

At the other end of the room, there was a small bookshelf next to a large, beige dresser with a huge mirror embedded in between two long, vertical compartments.

"Whoa- wooow! WOOOOOW! Is that- WOOOOW!" Mimi gasped out, running from one place to another to get a better look of everything, though still not daring to touch it, "It's…it's PERF- WOW!"

"You like it?" Teddy asked, shifting from foot to foot, "I, uh- didn't know your favourite colour so I thought this would do for the first-"

"I _love _it!" Mimi squealed as she turned around with a bright grin on her face before she ran up and hugged the tall boy around the waist, "Thank you! Thank you, it's amazing!"

"Well, I- uh…" Sirius cleared his throat, "…I thought of the pirate toy chest."

Remus nudged him with gentle rebuke.  
"Don't be a baby," he told him softly, "you'll get hugs too."

"I want hugs _now._" the dark-haired man whined jokingly and Remus rolled his eyes and indulged him with a quick, but warm hug and a gentle kiss on the cheek.

"There." the light-haired man snickered, "Now, let's get Mimi's things up here so she can unpack…_Accio luggage!_"

* * *

The first day in Mimi's new home was over all too quickly. She busied herself for the most of it by finding a perfect place in her new room for everything she owned. After she was done with that, she patted up and across the entire house several more times, looking into and under everything she could find, pretty much like a stray kitten settling into a new home.

Finally, a fun dinner with all three members of her new family where Sirius tried and failed miserably to flip pancakes and she got introduced to the wonders of chocolate frogs and Bertie Bott's Every Flavoured Beans as well as trying out the patented Weasleys' Canary Creams which tasted heavenly _and_ gave her great fun when she spent around five minutes flying around the room with Teddy in the shape of a gigantic, yellow canary.

Mimi knew that getting attached to her adopters too soon was a bad idea, in her case anyway. But these guys were just so weird and bizarre and wonderful that she just couldn't help it ~ she instantly adored them all. Especially Teddy with his bizarre outfits and fondness for glass jewelry.

For the rest of the evening, she listened to him excitedly explain Quidditch and talk about Hogwarts and the school houses and all the strange and wonderful things happening there.

They were all in the library at this point, Remus and Sirius sitting side by side on a comfortable sofa in front of the blazing fireplace while Mimi was sprawled on her belly on the thick rug in front of them, listening to Teddy's stories wide-eyed.  
"Could I go visit you at Hogwarts sometimes?" she asked Teddy at one point and Sirius chuckled.

"Not just visit, Mimi." he said, "Come October, you'll be starting school there yourself. You're a witch too, just like us. Er…except we're wizards."

Mimi looked up at him skeptically.  
"But I can't do any of the stuff you guys can." she said, "There's no way…"

"A wizard or witch's magic isn't that obvious until they get a wand of their own." Remus said, "A wand is what focuses it and allows you to use it at will. Until then, your magic comes out in more subtle ways you might not have noticed."

"Like what?"

"Well…" Remus trailed off uncomfortably, "You know how muggles became afraid of you when you spent a longer period of time in their houses?"

Mimi looked away, hugging Patchy closer to her instinctively. He was referring to her previous adopted parents.

"Well, that's because they're muggles." Remus spoke on quickly, "When they see something they don't understand, they become afraid of it and want it to go away. You weren't one of them in the first place, Mimi. It's a pity we couldn't find you earlier, but you're home now, so don't worry."

Mimi finally smiled a little and then grinned full out.  
"So…I'm gonna get a wand too, huh?"

"Oh, yes." Sirius grinned back, "We're all going to Diagon Alley in two weeks or so to shop for school supplies for you and Ted. I have a feeling you'll like that place."

Mimi had the feeling she'd like just about _anything_ that had to do with the wizarding world. It was a whole new universe to explore and she couldn't wait to dive straight into it.

That night, when Sirius and Remus tucked her in and left her to rest, Mimi couldn't sleep for the life of her. After a bit of tossing and turning, she sighed and threw the covers off of herself, grabbing Patchy from the pillow.  
"No way can I sleep now, Patchy." she told her friend excitedly, "It's exploring time! I bet this house has secrets and I'm going to find them all out!"

She got dressed in her usual expedition garb, consisting of her Siamese kitty jacket and blue denim skirt, as well as her black, cat-shaped backpack which, after tip-toeing down to the kitchen she filled with a bottle of water and a couple of sandwiches wrapped in transparent foil. Just in case.

She stealthily climbed back to the third floor and paused in front of the flight of stairs leading up to her and Teddy's rooms where she set Patchy down on the lowest step and knelt in front of him, spreading a piece of paper next to him on which she'd clumsily sketched out the entire house.

"Okay, so we're here now," she whispered to Patchy, pointing at a spot on the scribble that only made sense to her, "but between here and the next floor there's a HUGE gap. I mean, REALLY huge. There HAS to be a secret floor there. I bet there's a secret passage leading to it, right? I mean, this is a really old place, like in the movies, it's probably full of secret passages. Let's check out the stairway first."

She carefully folded the 'map' and put it in the joint pockets on the front of her jacket before picking Patchy up again and then slowly making her way up the stairway with her ear on the wall as she knocked along softly, looking for hollow spaces.

It wasn't very likely she'd wake anyone up, since the house was so huge that even Teddy, whose room was relatively close, was outside her earshot. Mimi knocked her way up the left wall and then down the right one and found nothing.

Also, everything was perfectly smooth without any visible bulging spots or indents to be pressed to reveal secret passages.

At the bottom of the stairs again, Mimi glanced down at Patchy and then up again with a sigh.  
"You're right…" she whispered, "…if there's a secret door, it would probably be opened with a wand, just like the front door…but let's not give up yet! At least we can _find_ it…it's got to be marked somehow. Let's see if maybe any of the rooms here have a passage leading up…"

She stealthily made her way from one room to another, but found only furniture covered with white sheets to protect if from the dust. However, there was one point of interest in the hallway ~ a truly enormous mirror, contained in a beautiful, black wooden frame that was intricately carved with a winding, abstract pattern.

Mimi examined the mirror up and down, peered behind it and tried pressing every little bulge in the frame she could reach, but nothing even budged.

Somewhat discouraged, she paused right in front of the reflective surface and squinted at her image before preening a little by combing her fingers through her pitch-black hair and trying (unsuccessfully again) to get the stubborn strand of hair falling down the middle of her face to settle behind her left ear.

Suddenly, something just above her reflection moved and Mimi yelped and whipped around, her heart pounding, only to confirm nothing was there.

Confused, she looked back at the mirror again, more precisely at the spot above her reflection she'd seen move before. It was an old portrait, apparently far back in the distance, just barely visible, peering from around the corner where the landing was between the staircases leading up and down.

Weird part was…Mimi didn't recall seeing it there before.

A quick run to the landing confirmed that there was, indeed, no painting there. Only the bare, beige wall.

Running back, Mimi leaned in towards the mirror as much as she could, squinting at the tiny portrait. It was moving, like all magical portraits did, and it showed ~ as far as Mimi could tell ~ a man wearing green robes.

"That is _so_ creepy and awesome!" Mimi whispered to Patchy, "But I can barely make it out…if only I could bring the mirror closer to the painting- er- wall. Oh!"

She remembered something and rushed to her room where she retrieved one of her treasures ~ a small hand-mirror, decorated with rhinestones.

Mimi then stood in front of the exact spot on the landing where the portrait was supposed to be and lifted the mirror. Sure enough, it reflected a painting that wasn't there at all. She angled it until she could see the man's face. It was pointy and drawn, with a set of moustaches and a harp goatee, both black just like the man's short hair. He seemed bored out of his wits, reclining against the left side of the frame and picking his nose for all he was worth.

Mimi watched in fascination as he did so, too mesmerized by what she was seeing before she cleared her throat timidly.  
"Um…hello?" she called out softly, but even that was enough to startle the man in the painting to the point where he nearly fell over.

He disappeared under the bottom edge of the frame for a long moment before he slowly peered out from behind it and then fully emerged with a sultry look on his face.  
"Oh, goody." he said in a sarcastic voice, "Thirteen years later and I get found by a little brat. You're not a new Black offspring, by any chance?"

"Um…I don't think so, Mr. Picture." Mimi replied confusedly, "Mr. Black adopted me, but we're not related."

"I'm assuming you mean that lout Sirius." the pointy-moustached man sighed despairingly, "It's a new low for the Blacks if _he_ owns the Black Manor…what did you just call me?"

"Mr. Pict-"

"I heard you, girl!" the man snapped back at her, "Don't be ridiculous ~ _I_ am Phineas Nigelus Black, one of the founders of the Black family, do remember that!"

He looked deeply begrudged before glaring at Mimi through the mirror once more.

"So, you got yourself adopted into the Black family, did you?" he sighed dramatically, "Don't suppose you're a pureblood, at least? By the looks of you, you may have some preferable breeding, though one never knows for sure…"

This was all too much for Mimi's poor, childish brain. She blinked at the portrait blankly, not really sure what she was being asked.

Phineas rolled his eyes exasperatedly.  
"No matter, then." he grumbled, "So what do you want, then? I'm a very busy man."

A mental image of him picking his nose just a minute ago popped up in Mimi's mind, but right now she had other questions.  
"So, how come I can only talk to you through a mirror?" she asked eagerly, "Your picture isn't there…I _think_…unless it's invisible or something. But what's the point of an invisible picture?"

"No, my portrait was indeed removed from this place," Phineas sighed tragically, "By a pesky mudblood girl, if I recall correctly. But her petty skills were enough to remove it's physical manifestation, not the powerful enchantment that left a portal for my spirit here."

Once again, Mimi was overwhelmed by the complexity of the man's speech. She wrecked her brains desperately for a long moment before she tried to sum it up.  
"So…it's like the body of the picture is gone, but the soul's still here?"

Phineas gave her a long look of utter suffering.  
"Something like that." he ground out, clearly restraining himself from saying more.

No matter what he claimed, this was the first bit of conversation he'd gotten in quite a long time now.  
"Well, Mr. Black, I'm looking for a secret passage in the house," Mimi said, "can you help me find it?"

A pair of surprised, green eyes shot her a suspicious look.  
"How do you know there's a secret passage?"

"There _has_ to be," Mimi reasoned, "something's got to be in that huge gap between the floors, right?"

Phineas snorted haughtily.  
"I do not reveal Black family secret to outsiders." he said magnificently, "Furthermore, it's not a place for children, not to mention-"

He paused suddenly and looked as if he were listening for something. A moment later, his eyes widened in surprise as he turned them back to Mimi.  
"What?" he gasped, clearly not talking to the girl, but to someone who was out of sight, "_Her_? Are you sure? Oh, very well- yes- yes, I- now don't you start with me!"

He seemed to suddenly realize Mimi was staring at him confusedly and snapped out of his little trance.  
"Er…herm." he cleared his throat awkwardly, "Very well, I'll tell you."

"Really?" Mimi beamed at him, "Oh, thank you! You're the best, Mr. Picture!"

"I told you not to- ugh, never mind." Phineas sighed, "Listen, I can't tell you directly where the passage is-"

"Why not?"

"Don't interrupt, young lady!" Phineas glared at her warningly, "But I'll tell you how to find it. The passage is out of sight in the same way as my painting is. So, in order to find it, you'll need a mirror."

"Oh…I see!" Mimi gasped, "That makes sense!"

"Yes, but just finding it isn't enough." Phineas warned her, "Unlike my painting, the passage exists _completely_ in its mirror reflection. If you want to go through it, you'll have to find a large-enough mirror to pass through. The old and powerful magic of the passage will make it possible."

"There's a mirror in my room!" Mimi gasped, "I think I can drag it down here."

At that very moment, she got startled by the sound of a nearby grandfather clock signaling the stroke of midnight.

"Aaaaw, maaan…" the girl moaned, "I gotta go to bed now. I'll find the secret passage tomorrow night, Mr. Picture. See you then!"

Before Phineas could protest at being called Mr. Picture again, Mimi thrust the hand mirror into her backpack and ran off towards the staircase.

Soon the house was silent once more...

**Next time:**

_- He extended his hand forward and Mimi thought she saw another one – pale and lean – grasp and shake it. It looked like someone had come to visit…another wizard perhaps? -_

_Mimi moved alongside the wall, examining the reflection of every part carefully until she finally reached the top of the stairs and a cold breeze brushed across her face…from inside the mirror._

_"To chart these wild seaaaas!" Mimi roared as the heaving sea of junk carried her little sofa-raft away._

**Late Note: The next chapter will also be a two-parter. Sorry about that, I didn't realize how long they were. It's just easier to upload/proofread/fix them smaller chunk at a time. Thanks for understanding. :) **

**And: REVIEW, people, don't be scared! O.O How am I supposed to know what to improve if you don't tell me? ;)  
**


	4. Chapter 3, Part 1

**What to say before this one, hmmm...oh, right - Snape survived the war as one of the good guys and became Headmaster of Hogwards instead of Albus, problem? No? Good. xD**

**Seriously though, flame me if you like but this is the only form of therapy I have after Mrs. Rowling traumatized me by killing off my favourite characters. ;_; Don't be too harsh on a broken mind. Other than that - enjoy! /presuming anyone's reading this _ /  
**

**Chapter Three: Winds from the Past**

Mimi couldn't believe that she woke up in an unfamiliar bed after such a wonderful night of undisturbed and peaceful sleep. Her dark blue eyes opened to an explosion of light and the girl sat up with a gasp, realizing that all the bizarre events from yesterday were not in fact a crazy dream, but honest to goodness reality. Mimi was in her pale blue nightie, she was squeezing Patchy in her arms the way she normally did, but this heavenly soft bed she was sitting on, the smell of fresh lavender in the air, the breeze that came gushing in gently through an open window full of sky, these were all new.

Mimi jumped out of bed, Patchy still in her arms, and climbed the desk under the window until she was kneeling on top of it and leaning out the window, under the fluttering, white drapes.

The moment she poked her head out into the cool morning air and her silky hair spilled down over her shoulder like black water, Mimi's nostrils filled with the scent of freshly baked bread and the bustle of the streets below reached her ears. Her window, ridiculously high up on the fifth floor, looked right down on the streets where people and cars rushed by to begin a new working day. It was strange to see everything down there so gray and mundane, when Mimi knew that she could but look over her shoulder and see a completely new world full of mystery, adventure and spectacular discoveries.

Bending over the window sill a little more, Mimi realized something.

"Hey!" she said to Patchy as she pointed downward with her finger, "I can kinda see into the entrance hall from here!"

It was true – if she bent down as much as she could without falling out the window, Mimi could just make out a little bit of the entrance hall through the tall windows.

"Look, Patchy, there's Mr. Puppy!" she giggled when Sirius' head of long and messy black hair popped into view.

He extended his hand forward and Mimi thought she saw another one – pale and lean – grasp and shake it. It looked like someone had come to visit…another wizard perhaps?

With an excited squeal, Mimi scrambled back into her room and dove into the dresser in search of something to quickly pull on. She'd spent her entire life not knowing that witches and wizards exist for real (though she _had_ always suspected, to be honest) and now that she had the chance to meet another one, Mimi wouldn't miss it for the world.

She found her black, blue-stripped hoodie and pulled it on hastily, while trying to jump into her warm winter leggings of the matching design and then finally her beloved black skirt with many folds that always looked adorably puffed-up thanks to the generous amount of black, fluttery lace hidden underneath.

Before barging out, Mimi took a moment to examine herself in the mirror. She didn't want to leave a bad impression on her first out of family wizard meeting. All around it wasn't bad, except…

With a determined tug, Mimi pulled the hood over her head and combed out her smooth, black hair with her fingers so it flowed onto her chest by her neck. As always, her hair felt smooth and _cold_ under her fingers, like a black mountain spring, bringing a pleasant chill down Mimi's back.

Now with her hoodie on, the girl nodded approvingly at her and Patchy's reflections in the tall mirror.

"Perfect." she said, "Okay, let's go get that wizard!"

She rushed into the hallway and just barely managed to avoid running into Teddy who was still in his pajamas and his long hair picked up in a tall ponytail, shuffling his feet sleepily to breakfast.

Mimi managed to just brush past him with a quick greeting.  
"Mornin', Teddy!" she giggled before disappearing down the stairs, but she immediately popped back up, pointing at him, "Homigosh, you're so CUTE with a ponytail! Okay, bye!"

Then she was gone again and Teddy just blinked at the now empty space groggily. Wha?

Mimi ran both flights of stairs that separated her from the kitchen on the first floor, where she assumed the guest would be received, in the guest/dining room.

True enough, Sirius sat at the kitchen counter with the guest while Remus was a couple of steps away at the stove, making tea for everyone.

They seemed to be engaged in an active discussion so Mimi carefully snuck closer to hear if maybe they were gossiping about her.

"I don't know," Remus sighed heavily as he approached the other two men with a steaming teapot which he held carefully with both hands in thick purple mittens, "she seems to really like that toy."

Mimi froze up, realizing that they were talking about Patchy, of all things. Instinctively, she hugged her friend tighter and leaned in more so she could hear better.

Bravely, she peered out from behind the large shelf she was hiding at to see the visitor. It was a tall, pale man dressed in all black, just like his hair that fell around his face heavily. What Mimi's curious, dark-blue eyes were immediately drawn to on his face was his very prominent, eagle-like nose. But after a moment of blinking at it in wonder, she realized he had other distinguishing features as well. His eyes, for example. Unlike anything she'd ever seen, they were pitch black to the point where she couldn't tell the irises apart from the pupils. His mouth was nicely-shaped, but seemed unaccustomed to smiling, as if they had been perpetually frozen in the loose, serious expression the man was currently wearing.

This person had features that would normally intimidate children – he looked stern and severe and his manner of dressing didn't help either. But even so, Mimi had trouble actually being afraid of him, save maybe for the fact that he was talking with her adopted parents about doing something to Patchy, apparently.

Then, the man spoke and his incredibly deep and somehow lazy voice sent shivers down the girl's spine for some reason. It was so soft and yet so powerful that she could hear him perfectly well on the other side of the room, despite the fact that the man was clearly soft-spoken.

"Yes, thank you," he said sarcastically as he accepted a steaming cup of tea from Remus, "we are all aware now that I am a monster who likes to steal little girls' toys. But apart from that, you must consider one thing – this…_toy_…has managed to keep the girl hidden from the Ministry for nine years now. It is clearly a powerful magical item. We need to make sure it's not a leftover from…darker times."

"I didn't sense any dark magic from it." Sirius declared with a shrug, "I say if it's not bothering us, don't go picking at it."

"Very pragmatic." the black-haired man said dryly, "I'm surprised you've forgotten already that dark artifact can take on pleasant guises for very long periods of time. It could've disguised itself. It would be too hazardous to leave it in the hands of a little girl."

Mimi's heart froze as she backed away towards the staircase in horror. They were talking about taking Patchy away! No! No, no, NO! Not in a million years would she allow that to happen. Patchy had been there for her whenever people who were supposed to be her _parents_ just gave her away as if she were a rag doll herself! In everything she ever did, he was her loyal partner and friend, he listened to her and kept all her secrets and when she didn't have a pillow, he didn't mind acting as one.

And now some scary man wanted to just take him away?

_No_.

She whipped around and dashed up the stairs again, nearly running into Teddy who'd only reached the landing between the third and second floor.  
"Hey, what's the rush?" he snickered as the girl darted past him, but Mimi was gone a split-second after she appeared.

Barging into her room at last, the girl grabbed the backpack she'd packed for last night's expedition and climbed her desk, poking her head out the window.

This morning she'd appreciated the view, but now that she was contemplating actually escaping through it, the sheer height she was at made her dizzy.  
"Okay…maybe I'll start off on a smaller scale…" she muttered and drew her head back in.

A couple minutes later, she popped her head out again, but this time from the second floor window.  
"Right!" she sighed, "Much better. Hm…it's still pretty high up…and nothing to climb down."

She looked left and right for a possible way down before glancing down at Patchy.  
"Hey…you're right…" Mimi said, a look of revelation slowly appearing on her face, "You know, I bet there's a mirror in one of the bathrooms I could use! And let's face it – if that secret passage is _anywhere_ it's somewhere on the staircase leading up to my room. Okay, let's do it!"

A quick dash later, Mimi was on the stairway leading up to her room with a medium-sized mirror she'd taken off the wall in one of the guest bathrooms. It was approximately half her height and wide enough for her to squeeze through, should she manage to find the passageway.

Mimi moved alongside the wall, examining the reflection of every part carefully until she finally reached the top of the stairs and a cold breeze brushed across her face…from inside the mirror.

The girl gasped and looked down to see not the reflection of the beige wallpaper, but a drafty, gaping hole behind the mirror's surface. A constant, cold breeze flowed from it, but otherwise it was dark and silent.

Mimi hesitated for a moment, wondering if this maybe wasn't such a hot idea, but then she heard Remus call her name from the kitchen and gulped dryly. Now or never!

Careful to keep the passage in the mirror's reflection, the girl rested it against the wall and then promptly got down on all fours and extended her hand towards the dark surface. She half expected her fingers to hit the glass exterior, but instead they passed right through and she gasped – it felt like dipping her fingers in icy water.

Jerking her hand back, Mimi hesitated once more, but when Remus' voice called her name again, this time from much closer, she drew her breath in and practically jumped through the passageway.

It did feel like diving into icy water, but it only lasted for a split second where Mimi could not draw in any air and dead darkness engulfed her like black liquid. For that split second, Mimi felt like she had no weight of her own, no gravity to pull her up or down, but then a force yanked her down and she dropped unceremoniously onto something hard which gave under her weight and broke, sending the girl tumbling across a dusty surface.

"Ow…" Mimi groaned when her fall was finally stopped and she could sit up. A cloud of dust filled her nose and mouth and she coughed and sneezed at the same time, "Maaan, I was expecting something a little more…awesome."

She squinted to keep the flying dust out of her eyes as she looked around her new surroundings. Mimi has definitely found herself in some place that looked like an attic, if attics stretched endlessly in every direction and had such tall ceilings that she couldn't make it out in the distance.

Everything was tinted in a very, very pale shade of dusty pink colour, to the point it was almost pale gray. Old boxes and crates were scattered around the place and stocked up precariously on top of each other among ancient sofas covered in once-white sheets and old painting frames and dusty, dusty, dusty bookshelves.

Now that she got a better look, Mimi realized that she was in some kind of an…attic-like hallway, in lack of a better expression. In the far, far distance she could make out a wall made out of wooden planks that were nailed loosely together and, at about the same distance directly opposite from it was another wall, just like it. However, in the remaining two directions which Mimi dubbed 'back' and 'forward' in lack of a better name, the stacked crates and boxes and furniture and bookshelves just went on and on and on until they disappeared into the pale, dusty-pink fog in the distance.

The pale glow that illuminated her dusty surroundings was coming from between the cracks among the wooden boards that made up the both walls to the 'left' and 'right'. That light was probably the source of the odd, dusty-pink shade that seemed to have overtaken everything.

"What _is_ this place?" Mimi wondered as she looked around in awe, "There's no _way_ that this is a part of the house…it's made out of bricks and stuff, not- not _planks_! Oh!"

Mimi quickly looked around for the passage she'd come through, but it was nowhere to be seen and the girl hugged her stuffed scarecrow to her chest tightly.

"I…I guess we're not going back anytime soon." she uttered softly, a lump forming in her throat at the thought of the life she left behind. She already missed Remus and Sirius and Teddy.

A silent moment passed before Mimi suddenly huffed and straightened up.  
"We don't have time for this, Patchy!" she told her friend confidently, "This is an amazing discovery and we have to explore it! Okay…wonder which way to go…let's see if we can check where we are through those cracks in the wall."

In the absence of a clear path through the stacked up old stuff, Mimi began climbing the nearest crate. Every move she made caused clouds of dust to fly up into the air and made it a little difficult to breathe, but she eventually managed to get on top of the crate and then climb the dresser next to it and then finally straighten up on top of it.

The moment she stopped moving, Mimi felt the already rickety dresser under her feet practically heave into the air before it started to fall over, bringing the girl along with it.

As Mimi went down, she witnessed the sea of junk heaving up and piles upon piles of crates, boxes, furniture and a bunch of other stuff moved together like liquid, creating waves of junk that climbed up and then crashed down again, making an unholy racket.

Mimi screamed as she fell, though mercifully she landed on top of an old sofa. She immediately latched onto the lean as the sofa buckled under her and then jumped up in the air, carried by shifting masses of junk piled under it.

"What's going on?" Mimi screamed as the sofa she was on popped up on the very surface of the swaying sea of stuff. It buckled, jumped and fell again but all in all it acted like a bizarre raft, somehow staying on top of the moving mass of crates, boxes and god only knew what.

"We're moving away from the wall!" Mimi cried out, realizing that the sofa was taking her to the middle of what was now a flowing _river_ of creaking, bouncing, crashing and jumping stuff. All the junk was barely recognizable now, the constant crashing against each other having reduced it to a mass of splinters, scraps and rubble, but some items like the sofa Mimi was on right now managed to somehow remain whole and keep themselves on the surface.

A little ways away from her 'vessel', Mimi clearly saw an old portrait floating by and a bit closer there was a box and then a whole piano bouncing on the surface on its back, the legs pointing to the ceiling.

The sheer ridiculousness of her situation left the girl momentarily speechless – she was on a sofa that was floating on top of a sea of junk!

But then…  
"Whooo!" Mimi giggled in delight as she did her best to stand up, holding onto the lean of the bed, "Yarrrr, me maties, keep 'er steady as she goes!"

She nearly lost her balance when her sofa collided with a large, wooden crate.  
"WHOA!" Mimi gasped out as she barely kept her footing, "First Mate Patchy, we need an oar!"

Looking around, she spotted a long wooden pole that bounced along on top of the flowing mass of junk. Mimi jumped and doubled over the lean of her sofa, grabbing it just when it bounced up again.

"Gotcha!" she grinned and straightened up, "Alright, let's tame this sea, Patchy!"

She tucked her plushie into her dark blue hoodie so that only his head poked out under her chin and then grabbed the pole with both hands, using it to push against any large pieces of junk they'd float by.

"To chart these wild seaaaas!" Mimi roared as the heaving sea of junk carried her little sofa-raft away.

* * *

Lupin, Sirius and Teddy met up frantically in the kitchen after combing the house for Mimi with no success. Snape was, in the meanwhile, calmly enjoying his cup of tea at the counter.

"I'm telling you, she passed me on her way up when I was coming down for breakfast!" Teddy said impatiently, "She couldn't have _vanished_ from the fifth floor!"

"Teddy, we checked there three times now," Remus retorted exasperatedly, his amber eyes now honestly distressed, "she wasn't there. Oh, I don't understand…why would she run away so suddenly?"

"Well, gee, I don't know," Sirius remarked sarcastically before shouting out the rest of the sentence pointedly in Snape's general direction, "maybe it's got to do with the DOLLIE MURDERER over there!"

"You think she heard-" Remus gasped in horrified realisation while Snape glared at his husband darkly, "oh no! We have to find her! Let's search again!"

"We've already searched everywhere, dad!" Teddy groaned, "Unless she went through that mirror she left in the hallway, I don't know where she-"

A sharp clatter startled them all and all three of them looked over at Snape who'd slammed his teacup on the counter and was already striding over, his black robes whipping around him menacingly.

"She moved a mirror?" he asked Teddy sharply, looking even paler than usually, "How big was it?"

"What-" the boy stared up at him confusedly, "What do you mean how- it was just an ordinary mirror from the bathroom, she left it on the staircase leading to the fifth floo- hey!"

Snape had already brushed past them and was rushing up the stairs, moving impressively fast, even though he wasn't exactly spring chicken wizard anymore. The rest of the guys had no choice but to hurry after him until they were all standing around the mirror that was just large enough for a little girl to pass through.

"Damn it!" Snape snapped, "She went through."

Teddy threw his arms up helplessly.  
"It was figure of speech!" he cried, but Sirius suddenly gasped in horrified realization.

"You don't think…" he uttered in horror, "…that she found a reflection portal?"

"What, but that's- how would she even know about them?" Remus snapped.

"That's hardly important now." Snape said grimly as he shrugged out of his black overcoat, "She went through. I'll see if I can track her before she goes in too deep. Ted, go bring me something of hers."

The boy nodded mutely and then rushed off up the stairs, returning almost immediately with a small item and handing it to Snape.

The man nodded grimly.  
"Very well, then I'll just…" he trailed off, staring at the thing he was holding, before snapping, "What _is_ this, for Merlin's sake?"

Teddy took one look at the reddish-brown, shriveled, bone-dry apple with a smiley face carved into it so it looked like a bizarre, shrunken head…thing, and shrugged impatiently.  
"I don't know!" he cried frantically, "It's the first thing I grabbed!"

Snape rolled his eyes and thrust the atrocity into his pocket, muttering all the while.  
"…never mind." he ground out and waved his black wand, making the mirror flex and grow under a powerful non-verbal spell of transfiguration before glancing at Remus and Sirius, "You two wait here and be ready to destroy the portal the second we step out."

"Why don't _you_ stay here and Remus and I go look for our daughter?" Sirius argued angrily, making Snape glare at him.

"Who here has the most experience with Dark Magic?" the man ground out in his silky, dark voice and smirked a little when no one had a retort, "That's right. Just wait here and…"

He trailed off for a bit before giving the distressed family a somewhat less cold than usually look.  
"Don't worry," he said, "I'll bring her back safe."

With that, he stepped through the portal without hesitation and was gone a second after.

A moment of silence later, Remus, Sirius and Teddy looked at each other blankly, realizing something.  
"He has no idea what she looks like." Remus said.

~TBC

_**Next Time:**_

_"Miss Huggins!" a dark, deep voice suddenly called out Mimi's name from far behind her and the girl whipped around to see the black-clad wizard from before approaching her calmly from the now still sea of junk, "That's quite enough now, time to go back!"_

_"Don't you take ONE step through that door!" Snape roared, forgetting his efforts to be subtle as his Headmaster position kicked in, "I'm warning you- don't-"_

_"Accio brat!"_

**Oh, ****the update-thingy is working again. ^_^ Well, that's it for this week - leave a review if you're feeling generous. ;_;**_  
_


	5. Chapter 3, Part 2

**~Previously~**

_**"She moved a mirror?" Snape asked Teddy sharply, looking even paler than usually, "How big was it?"**_

_**Sirius suddenly gasped in horrified realization.  
"You don't think…" he uttered in horror, "…that she found a reflection portal?"**_

_**Snape trailed off for a bit before giving the distressed family a somewhat less cold than usually look.  
**__**"Don't worry," he said, "I'll bring her back safe."**_

**~Chapter 3, Part 2~**

Mimi was beginning to really have fun the more she got used to navigating the heaving sea of junk when she spotted the end of the road in the distance. It was a wall of planks, just like those in the distance to her left and right, but this one had a high ledge against which the junk splashed every now and then and a single door in the corner of the wooden platform.  
"Patchy, there's a way out!" Mimi declared to her plushie who was patiently sitting in the corner of the sofa, protected from falling by Mimi's booted foot, "Hang on tight! It might get a bit bumpy around the- whoa!"

Everything stopped moving so suddenly that Mimi nearly toppled over, carried by the inertia. She managed to grab onto the lean of the sofa at the last second and look around, mouth agape, when she realized that everything was now completely and utterly still, as if frozen.  
"What- oh, come ON!" she cried in frustration, "We're so close to the exit!"

"Miss Huggins!" a dark, deep voice suddenly called out Mimi's name from far behind her and the girl whipped around to see the black-clad wizard from before approaching her calmly from the now still sea of junk, "That's quite enough now, time to go back!"

"It's the Plushie Hater!" the girl gasped and grabbed her stuffed toy, hugging him to her chest, "I'll protect you, Patchy!"

Snape scowled as he strode towards the girl awkwardly, over the uneven terrain made out of junk. It was difficult enough using the freezing charm on such a huge amount of moving stuff, now it also seemed the blasted child was determined to cause trouble. And what did she just call him?  
"Don't be difficult, young lady," he called out to her, trying his best to look at least less menacing than usually, "I need to get you back before-"

He was rudely cut off by a piece of wood that flew towards him, struck his large forehead and then bounced off it.  
"Stay back, I'm warning you!" Mimi shouted as she grabbed another random thing from under her feet one of the cushions from the sofa she'd been riding and chugged it at poor Snape, "I won't let you take Patchy! What kind of a man hates cute toys!"

Snape twitched angrily as he dodged the cushion, looking rather un-dignified.  
"I don't hate-" he began, but got cut off by a large sprocket that probably belonged inside a grandfather clock that landed on top of his head.

"Liar!" Mimi accused as she backed away from his approach while throwing everything she could pick up from the ground at him, "I heard you before! Well, you're NOT getting Patchy, you big meanie! Stay away from us!"

"Gh- you little-" the wizard groaned, rubbing his aching head while trying to dodge the rain of other flying junk before he risked looking up and realized the girl was now climbing to the ledge to get to the door which Snape knew was actually another portal.

This was just a transit area. A place where bits of many different dimensions of time and space ended up when they were misplaced in planes in which they didn't belong. It was dreadfully unstable and incredibly dangerous, but that paled in comparison with the potential dangers that lurked behind that door. Especially for a wandless little witch who knew so little of the wizarding world, she was practically a Muggle.

"Don't you take ONE step through that door!" Snape roared, forgetting his efforts to be subtle as his Headmaster position kicked in, "I'm warning you- don't-"

But it was too late. Having climbed to the top of the ledge, Mimi dove straight to the door knob.  
"Accio brat!" a furious, deep voice roared behind her and Mimi screamed as she felt a physical force pulling her backward, but then she took a swing at the invisible force with Patchy and it suddenly stopped as though she'd managed to swat it away.

Snape let out a gasp of shock when his spell was broken by nothing more than a swing of the little toy and with such force that his want was knocked out of his hand. He could only stare in shock as Mimi scrambled back to her feet and then ducked through the door, slamming it behind her.  
"...damn it!" he snapped. storming off furiously to retrieve his wand.

Heavens only knew where the stupid child ended up now. This entire business suddenly got ten times more difficult.

Still he was positive about one thing, at least. That toy was definitely magical and dangerous.

Mimi again felt the same sensations like when she'd passed through the first portal first the feeling of being dunked in ice and then loss of equilibrium. When it passed, Mimi realized she was crouching, curled around Patchy who was pressed into her chest tightly. The first thing she became aware of was the sound of a crowded street all around her.

Peering out from under the rim of her black, indigo-stripped hoodie, Mimi realized she was in a street. People were passing by, talking, laughing and cautiously walking around her, giving her strange and sometimes worried looks as they passed.

Mimi quickly straightened up and tried to look at least a little normal, but it was difficult since most of the people around her were dressed in clothes that she'd only seen in old thirties' movies. Men wore beige suits with vests under them and they all had fedora hats on and women were dressed in long skirts or dresses with those lovely little round hats on their heads and curled, short hair coiling out from under them.

Dressed in her crazy hoodie, laced short skirt and stripped stockings, it would be an understatement to say Mimi stood out like a sore thumb.  
"Honey, are you alright?" a female voice asked gently and Mimi jerked around to look up at a beautiful, blonde woman who was smiling down at her.

"Um yeah, sure." the girl croaked out around her heart that pounded high up in her throat, "I- uh- I'm great!"

"I'm with the circus!" she added quickly, realizing the woman's eyes were now examining her outfit, "I'm a clown in training. They won't let me put on clown makeup yet. Uh right. I have to go, so "

She dashed away without finishing her sentence. As she ran down the street, she heard the woman calling out after her, but didn't stop until she found a narrow side street she could duck into and get out of sight.  
"Oooh, maaan " Mimi groaned breathlessly as she leaned on the wall, squeezing Patchy to her chest, "I can't believe we traveled back in time! I mean, don't get me wrong it's awesome, but what am I supposed to do now?"

After a bit, she let out a long breath and glanced down at Patchy gratefully.  
"Yeah you're right." she said, "If we do get stuck here, I can always predict the future for a living since that's where I'm _from_."

"...man, I'm hungry " she sighed after a moment, "I shouldn't have ran from home before breakfast."

A tummy-grumbling moment later, Mimi sighed.  
"Well, no use hiding here." she told Patchy, "Let's go look around maybe we can find a way back or at least get some grub."

She discreetly edged out of the side street and tried to fall in step with the crowd. She still got her share of odd looks, but now that she was walking down the street like a normal person, people seemed to just assume she was going to or from a costume party even if it was still strange to see such a young girl on her own in the street.

She patted down the streets aimlessly, looking for anything that looked even vaguely familiar. She could see the Big Ben in the distance so she was sure this was, indeed, London, but other than that, Mimi felt no connection to any of this.

Suddenly, something fluttered at her from the crowd ahead and then disappeared behind the next corner and Mimi's heart pounded. It had been something that blended in the mostly beige and brown outfits of the crowd almost as little as Mimi herself had. Bright red and fluttering Mimi decided it could only be a bit of a wizard or witch's outfit!

The girl rushed through the crowd and ducked around that corner and, sure enough there was an elderly man skipping down the street in a long, bright red overcoat with golden edges. It was a wizard robe if there ever could be one. Without even considering the possibility that the man was a street performer or something like that, Mimi hurried after him and followed him to a rundown little pub called the Leaky Cauldron. The girl's heart pounded even harder flamboyant robes, cauldrons these were all signs of the wizarding world!

Once there, maybe she could find someone to help her go back to her time. So, Mimi didn't even wince at the intimidating, shady-looking establishment that most people went around in a wide circle and marched straight inside, firmly hugging Patchy to her chest.

The moment she stepped in, hot air splashed Mimi in the face and made her realize how truly cold it had been outside. Back in time or not, it was still autumn and she was wearing only her hoodie and a short skirt; Mimi's face was icy and when she breathed in the warmth that smelled of tobacco, coffee and hot wine, it scalded a path through her airways and into her chilled lungs.

But that was soon forgotten as the sheer marvel of this place, even if it was still dark and unkempt, struck her flat in the face. Chatting away as if nothing at all was unusual, was the strangest bunch Mimi had ever laid eyes upon.

Passing the first several tables, she saw some stocky people no taller than she was but at least twice as broad who Mimi assumed were dwarves or something of the like. They laughed raucously over huge kegs of foamy ale and sang what sounded like Scottish folk songs, only not the like Mimi ever had the chance to hear they mentioned mines and underground cities.

Mimi lingered a little near their table, listening, before turning around to see some old women, dressed in rags who were cackling wildly at another table. They sounded just like those mean, old witches from cartoons and their arms and hands were just as bony, poking eerily out of the folds of their gray, hooded cloaks.

Walking a bit deeper into the pub, Mimi was overjoyed to see a group of leprechauns bouncing off the chairs at yet another table. They giggled maniacally and shot golden sparkles from their little pipes wile drinking something probably alcoholic from adorable miniature kegs.  
" so cute!" she snickered to Patchy softly as she walked around the table, grinning at the little, green creatures.

Something suddenly ran into her feet, nearly tripping her to the ground. Mimi managed to keep her footing as she grabbed on to the nearby coat rack. Whipping around to see what it was, Mimi just managed to see something small, pink and fluffy zip under one of the tables and out of sight.

Still, as amazing as it all was, Mimi didn't see any actual, classic wizards she could talk to about getting her back home somehow. The bartender was a scary-looking, toothless old man who seemed deeply focused on running a filthy rag across the counter where no one seemed brave enough to sit.

Just as Mimi was about to give up for the moment and simply take a rest by the inviting fireplace that blazed at the far end of the pub, a long, forlorn sigh made her glance at a table she hadn't noticed before. There was a completely unremarkable young man sitting there, looking miserable as he stared at his cup of tea.

He was tall and lanky, bony even, dressed in a beige, tweed pants and vest with a crisp-white shirt underneath. He didn't look like a wizard at all, in Mimi's standards. His long face was ordinary, just like his watery, pale eyes and his enormous, crooked nose only made him look sadder.

Mimi crept closer until she came nose to edge of the table. She had to stand a little on her toes so she could grab the end of the table and peer over it. Up close, the skinny young man looked even more miserable; he looked like he was about to cry into his tea and was completely oblivious of the two wide, dark blue eyes staring at him from beyond the table.

A long moment later, the young man sighed and looked up slowly, probably to cast a miserable look around the pub and nearly had a heart attack when he unexpectedly saw a little girl staring at him.  
"MERLIN, WHAT IN THE WORLD?" he practically shrieked as he nearly knocked over his teacup while jumping up and kicking the table.

Mimi yelped and ducked under the table on impulse.  
"Don't blast me with magic!" she blurted out and peered out again when she heard a sigh of relief from above, "Sorry, I didn't mean to scare you."

A pair of watery, pale blue eyes gave her a somewhat unnerved, cross look.  
"Are you here on your own?" the young man asked shakily, "This is n-no place for kids t-to come on their own."

"Well I had nowhere else to go." Mimi told him dejectedly, "I somehow got here from the future and now I'm stuck here and I don't know anyone so I followed a wizard I saw in the street to here because I wanted to ask him to help me get back but now he's not here and-"

Her stomach interrupted her with a loud, roaring growl. The girl paused awkwardly before finishing her sentence in utter misery.  
" I'm starving." she said, all sad-blue-eyes.

The young man stared at her mutely for a long moment before ducking his head with a sigh of surrender.

Not five minutes later, Mimi was happily digging into some hot pancakes, lavishly overflowing with chocolate syrup, her feet dangling from the tall chair. The young wizard stared at her, still rattled from his earlier fright and the sudden flood of information from the girl that followed afterwards.  
"So let me get this straight " he said slowly, "you went through a mirror, sailed a uh-"

"Fea ov junk." Mimi replied, her mouth stuffed with pancakes.

"Right and then you went through a door and ended up in the past?"

"Pretty much." the girl said with a nod, "Oh, don't forget that a plushie murderer was after Patchy."

The young wizard cast a nervous glance at the scarecrow stuffed toy that sat upright on its own in the middle of the table.  
"I see." he said, "Uh, so wait, what's your name, anyway?"

"Mimi." Mimi replied as she poured herself some more syrup, "Mimi Huggins. What's yours?"

"Uh Howard." he replied, looking a little embarrassed, "Howard Ollivander. P-pleased to meet you, I I suppose."

"So, you're really a wizard?" Mimi asked curiously, "I mean, no offense, but you don't look like one."

Ollivander looked a little embarrassed.  
"Ah, well I- I'm-" he cleared his throat awkwardly, "I'm living in the Muggles' world so I need to blend in. A-and I'm not really a classic wizard. I'm a wandmaker. Er- well, a wandmaker in training, really. Uh honestly, I don't think I'll ever become a real one."

Mimi tilted her head at him.  
"Why not?"

"Oh, it's complicated " the young man sighed and trailed off, but when he looked up, Mimi was still staring up at him expectantly, waiting for the story, so he sighed in surrender, "I have to do something to complete my apprenticeship. I have to find rare, magical ingredients and make my first wand out of them, on my very own. So, my fellow apprentices are out chasing unicorns and hunting dragons, but I I'm not really good at that."

"Well can't you just buy some somewhere?"

"I could, but no wandmaker ever sells his best stock." Ollivander said forlornly, "They always keep it for their own wands."

"Well that's mean." Mimi sighed and gave everything a little thought while munching on some more pancakes before she had an idea, "Hey, I know! I'm great at finding stuff! Why don't I help you get your wand-making thingies and then you help me go back to- er- forward to future?"

Ollivander gave her a cross look.  
"You can't help me, you're just a little girl and you're a long way from home." he said, "Besides, you don't have to do anything in order for me to help you. Eat up and I'll see if I can find someone to get you back home."

Mimi looked disappointed.  
"But I'm great at finding treasures!" she whined, "Come on, I know I can help you out!"

"N-no." the young man said sternly, "Don't be stubborn material-hunting is not a job for little girls who don't even have a wand of their own yet. Now finish up your meal so we can go find some help for you."

Mimi glared at him crossly and dug in again, muttering grouchily as she ate.

The sudden slam of the pub front door opening abruptly made her start and as Mimi looked over a gush of cold, outside air struck her flat on the face, just as her eyes caught sight of a swelling, swaying blackness of the robes belonging to the man who'd just barged in.

With a yelp, she ducked under the table.  
"It's the PLUSHIE MURDERER!" she hissed when Ollivander raised one end of the red table cloth and peered down at her confusedly, "Oh, don't let him find me! He wants to take my Patchy away he's a bad, bad, BAD man!"

"I'm looking for a rather uncouth child," a deep, dark voice remarked menacingly from above, making Ollivander jerk up in shock and blink up at the intimidating man in black robes.

He did look like a shady character, the wandmaker had to admit. Pale like someone who rarely sees the sun, dressed all in black and with dark eyes that promised dangerous thing if defied, the man looked like a poster boy for your average Dark Wizard stereotype.  
"You weren't talking to someone under that table, now were you?" he pressed, his dark baritone turning icier by the second.

"N-no " Ollivander lied lamely, "N-no, I was- uh I thought I'd dropped something a-and-"

A startled yelp suddenly came from under the table as it shook lightly. Snape narrowed his dark eyes at it and the plate of nearly eaten pancakes, swimming in syrup. He reached for the tablecloth, but then a round, pink thing suddenly shot out from underneath with a sharp squeal and zipped past his feet before zigzagging away across the room rapidly.  
" just the friendly local Puffskein." Ollivander smiled timorously as Snape glared back at him.

"I strongly urge you to tell me if you've seen this child." he growled darkly, "A small girl with long, black hair and a scarecrow toy. This is extremely serious she might be in possession of an immensely powerful dark artifact that has no place in a child's hands. Have you seen her?"

Ollivander gulped loudly, now completely at a loss. However, when looking up at the darkly menacing face of this frightening man and then thinking of the terrified child hiding under the table, it was easy to pick a side to defend.  
"N-no no, I'm s-sorry, I haven't seen anyone like that." he said and offered a thin smile to back his statement up.

Snape glared on at him for a long moment, as if weighing his words before drawing away.  
"Thank you for your time." he droned softly before whipping around and striding away, towards the back end of the pub.

Mimi peered from behind the table with huge, blue eyes.  
"Is he gone?" she asked while Ollivander was in the process of digging through a small, brown pouch out of which he took a handful of bronze coins and slammed them on the table.

"He went into the back," he said hurriedly, "and I think we should be long gone after he returns."

"Gotcha!" Mimi nodded as she jumped out from behind the table, "Where are we going?"

"I'll take you home with me for now," he told her, "and then I'll contact someone about sending you back- er- forward to your time."

Ollivander extended his long-fingered hand to the girl who latched onto it immediately and they hurried towards the exit, the odd couple of a small, adventurous child and a lanky, awkward wizard.

**~~~ End of Chapter 3**

**~Next time~**

_**"I want to go home!" she snapped tearfully, sounding angry at herself, "What if I end up stuck here for good? I'll never see Teddy and Remus and Mr. Puppy again!"**_

**"Something this precious deserves an equally amazing core." the skinny man concluded passionately,  
****"And some day I will be the Ollivander to find it and I will craft a piece of magical art."**

_**"Hey, Mr. Ollivander, what's a Millennium Unicorn?"  
**_


	6. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four: Chasing a Legend**

Though Ollivander lived in an average-looking apartment building, the moment they stepped through his door, Mimi could all but gape at the wonders that exploded before her eyes. It was as though someone had pulled a room out of a story book.

There were old, parched scrolls scattered about the wooden floor, a heavy, wooden table covered in alchemical equipment and vials of colourful, bubbling liquid. On the table next to it, there were piles and piles of very thin sheets of wood, all sorted by colour, as well as little bundles of strange, quivering strings that seemed to have a life of their own.  
"Whoa- wooooow…" Mimi uttered in awe before dashing inside, "This is so awesome! Hey, Mr. Ollivander, what's this?"

"Er- wood for the wands…they're called wandskins and-"

"What are these?"

"Um- cores for the wands, don't touch, they might-"

"Oh, this is so cool!" Mimi giggled as she raised a corner of a dusty, brown tapestry and discovered a glowing mirror behind it. The second she uncovered a tiny bit of it, the room exploded into light and filled with nostalgic wails of hundreds of angelic voices.

It all disappeared the second Ollivander grabbed the tapestry and pulled it down again.  
"D-do be careful, that's a very powerful magical artifact I'm supposed to deliver to the Ministry of Magic." he told the girl with gentle admonishment, causing Mimi to look repentful.

"Sorry…" she said miserably, all sad-blue eyes before perking up the very next second, "So what does it do?"

"Ng- we don't know." Ollivander replied with a helpless flinch, "The Ministry has yet to study it."

"Hmm…" Mimi seemed to ponder on this for a brief second before her dark-blue eyes got drawn to something else shiny and she lost her trail of thoughts as she patted away to explore it.

With a small smile, Ollivander shook his head and went over to a small furnace on the other end of the living room where he opened the little metal door and poked at the dying cinders with a stoker.  
"Look but don't touch anything, dear." he called in the general direction of the faint scuttle in the next room, "Some things might bite your fingers off."

There was a faint yelp at this and a sound of something being hastily slammed on top of a wooden surface. After a moment of silence, the faint shuffling sound continued, but a little more hesitantly.

Though tempted to go check on his little guest for a moment, Ollivander thought better of it and instead took a small, brown pouch that sat next to the furnace. Retrieving a bit of gray dust from it, the bony man slung it into the cinders, causing them to instantly erupt into lively, blue flames.

"Dorian Wenlock," Ollivander spoke into the flames loudly, articulating every word carefully, "Ministry of Magic, Department of Magical Accidents and Catastrophes."

The flames heaved obediently and, a moment after, formed a round, friendly-looking, moustached face.  
"Howard, old boy!" the face boomed with good-natured laughter, "Fancy hearing from you here! Did you finally set that Muggle-shack you live in on fire?"

"Very funny, Dorian." Ollivander snickered back to him, "How's the family?"

"Oh, can't complain, really." the flame-face replied fondly, "The missus has been chuntering on about a vacation. Suppose we'll hit the countryside come the Holiday season."

"She's right you know – you ought to recharge your batteries every now and then." the bony man chuckled back, but then winced as he heard a vague crash somewhere behind him, followed by a "soooryyy!". He cleared his throat awkwardly as he turned to his now bemused friend, "Uh…listen chap, I'm actually calling on business. I have a…uh…time traveler."

"What-whaaat?" Wenlock guffawed enthusiastically, "A real-live one? All limbs there and all that?"

"Yes, matter of fact, it's astounding." Ollivander said, spreading his arms, "She says she found a portal that could only be accessed through a mirror and went through."

"Hurm…that's some kind of advanced," Dorian pondered, "portal magic is still under heavy development even within the dimension of _space_, let alone time…could I have a word with her?"

"Of course, chap…" Ollivander nodded before calling out over his shoulder, "Mimi, could you come round for a bit, love?"

The sound of patting feet came rapidly closer before Mimi barged into the room, Patchy in her arms.  
"Hey, what's up?" she grinned before her eyes got drawn to the head-shaped body of fire, "WHOAAA, that is SO awesome! How'd you do that, what is that thing, does it talk? Hello?"

"Mimi, this is what wizards use instead of a telephone." Ollivander replied patiently, "Come here and meet my friend, Mr. Dorian Wenlock from the Ministry."

"Hello, Mr. Wenlock, nice to make your acquaintance." Mimi said politely as she walked over and knelt in front of the furnace, "Sorry I called you 'it', I thought you were some kind of a cool trick."

"My word, you're but a wee lass." Dorian said, sounding troubled, "And you have never seen a floo-line? Are you a Muggle, by any chance?"

"Uh…I grew up with them, but then I got adopted by some wizards who told me I'm like them." Mimi replied, looking a little sad when she thought of her adoptive family, "I'd just started learning about the Wizard-stuff…"

"Hrrrummrhh…" Dorian sighed heavily, "This is…problematic. Tell you what, old chap – I'll do what research I can but we're swamped today and not to mention I'll need more information. Could you bring the lass over to the office tomorrow so we can run some tests?"

"What?" Mimi gasped, "You mean I can't go home today?"

"I'm sorry, lass." Dorian told her gently, "But time-travel is tricky business, we need to make sure it's safe before trying to send you anywhere."

"Uh, one more thing, Dorian." Ollivander cut in as Mimi fell silent dejectedly, "There's _another_ time traveler who came here after her. I'm not positive what he wants, but he looks like…a Dark Wizard."

"Well it just gets better, donnit?" Dorian grumbled, albeit good-naturedly, "I'll have an Auror outside your building within minutes, just in case. And I'll check around with those snobs from the Department of Magical Transportation, you really should've called them first."

"I know…I just don't like the buggers."

"Pfeh! Nobody does, old boy, nobody does. Either way, I'll see you tomorrow, then. Bright and early!"

"Cheers." Ollivander replied fondly as the flames died down and then looked over to see Mimi still kneeling where she was dejectedly.

Suddenly the girl sniffed thunderously, startling the skinny man.  
"I want to go home!" she snapped tearfully, sounding angry at herself, "What if I end up stuck here for good? I'll never see Teddy and Remus and Mr. Puppy again!"

She was sobbing between words know, huge tears rolling down her cheeks faster than she could fist them away. Poor Ollivander was utterly helpless – he was an utter failure when it came to dealing with the female population, period, let alone when one was crying inconsolably.  
"Uh- I- oh my, d-don't cry my dear," he stammered lamely which just made Mimi bury her face into Patchy's back and sob even harder, "Er- w-we'll do everything we can to send you home. I-if anyone can do it, the Ministry can."

"But what if they _can't_?"

"Eh…um…well…I- ah…" Ollivander looked around helplessly to figure out a way to distract the crying child before he seemed to think of something and looked down at Mimi again, "Hey, you want to see something that exists _nowhere_ else in the world at the moment?"

Mimi looked up at him with tearful, dark-blue eyes and managed to somehow sniff inquisitively.  
"Is- is it a t-treasure?" she asked, still sobbing a little and Ollivander hesitated a bit before nodding.

"One of the rarest treasures in the world." he said and rose, extending his hand to her, "Come on, come see it."

He felt a little panicked as they went back to his work-room. The 'treasure' bit might have been exaggerated, unless you were a wandmaker per se. He could only hope the strange girl would appreciate it as much as he did.

Reaching into the inner pocket of his beige vest, Ollivander produced a pale wand from it, thin and long, pretty much like the wandmaker himself was. He tapped a spot above his work desk and a small square of the wood-paneled wall opened up obediently, making Mimi gasp.  
"A secret compartment!"

"Yes," Ollivander nodded, somewhat proudly as he carefully reached in and took out a small rectangular object, wrapped in soft, crimson velvet, "this is a once in a lifetime find, Mimi. Many people – and not only wandmakers – would gladly get their hands on it."

"Why's that?" the girl asked, her blue eyes glowing with curiosity as they fixated the long-fingered hands while they were unwrapping the bundle.

Ollivander precariously took out a very thin sheet of wood from the velvet folds, similar to those scattered all across the room. It was almost pitch-black, with a grayish streak across the middle and had an oily sheen, unlike the other wandskins.  
"This is magical wood, you see." the bony man explained almost reverently, "Magical wood is rare enough in itself, but _this_ is blood-willow."

He adjusted his huge, round glasses before speaking on.  
"Blood-willow only grows during the last full moon of the last year of a century," Ollivander explained, "And _only_ on soil soaked with the blood of a powerful magical being. It doesn't grow out of seeds, there is no way to plant or cultivate it – it will only appear under these conditions. Once it does, it will grow to its full size – which is a little shorter than you are – within the hour and survive for exactly twenty minutes before drying out."

Seeing how the girl was now listening to him intently, wide-eyed and completely having forgotten about crying, the skinny young man continued his story enthusiastically.  
"Blood-willow makes for the finest wandskin known to wizardkind," he said, "but only a thin layer of the entire tree is usable, the small bit between the bark and the core. It's usually enough for only one or two wandskins. The tree _this_ came from had provided three and two of them have already been made into wands by masters of the craft."

"Wow…" Mimi uttered in awe, dark-blue eyes aglow with wonder, "How did you get it, if you're only an apprentice? And why haven't you used it yet? Isn't that, like, the perfect rare ingredient you need to pass your test?"

"Heh," Ollivander chuckled fondly as he placed the wandskin back to its bed of velvet and lovingly wrapped it up again, "this has actually been in my family for generations. I come from a long line of wandmakers and this is our greatest heirloom. My grandfather made me promise, when he gave it to me, that I was not, under any circumstances, to craft it until I've found the perfect core and have in mind the perfect owner for it."

He placed the bundle back into the compartment and closed it again so it left no trace of existing in the wall.  
"Many wandmakers feel that the blood-willow wood is already magical enough that it doesn't even require a potent core." Ollivander spoke on pensively, "The other two skins that came from this tree were made into wands with mundane cores…unicorn hair and the somewhat rarer Fwooper feather, if I'm not mistaken. Still…"

He trailed off dreamily for a second before sighing.  
"Something this precious deserves an equally amazing core." the skinny man concluded passionately, "And some day I will be the Ollivander to find it and I will craft a piece of magical art."

This time, Mimi couldn't help but grin full out.  
"Wand-making is pretty fun, huh?" she said ponderingly.

"Er…well…" Ollivander turned beetroot red, suddenly on the spot like that, "Y-you have to be a certain type of person to appreciate it, but…yes. It's jolly fun."

He trailed off, glancing down at those insatiably curious and inquisitive dark blue eyes before smiling faintly.  
"Do you want a tour around the workshop?"

"Yes!" Mimi instantly yelped happily, "Yes, please! Show me everything and tell me what it's for!"

"Very well then…let's start at the workbench…"

By the time Mimi even got to think of the time, it was well into the evening and she had been observing Ollivander as he worked on a wand for over an hour, until the young man got up to fix some dinner.

While Ollivander fiddled with the pots in an attempt to prepare a hot meal for two, as opposed to his usual instant dinner, Mimi patted around the living room in a vain attempt of finding something else interesting.

She found it in a small clipping from a bizarre sort of newspaper. The headline read "The Millennium Unicorn of Eastern France – Myth or Truth?" There was a blurry picture included – of a fog-veiled forest at night. In the distance, a horse-like figure could be vaguely made out. It moved across the edge of the photo over and over, like a miniature movie.

Mimi glanced at the skinny man over in the kitchen.  
"Hey, Mr. Ollivander, what's a Millennium Unicorn?" she shouted over, startling the bony wizard into nearly dropping a pot of steaming spaghetti.

"U-uh…oh, that," he said, his face falling as he realised what the girl was pointing at, "It's just a legend, my dear. Apparently the ancient, immortal forefather of the Unicorn species still roams the forests of Eastern France. Legends say he is black as the night and that he travels the forest as softly as a ghost and as swiftly as the wind."

Mimi leaned in closer to squint at the small, printed letters on paper of poor quality.  
"The villagers of the Montigny-le-Roi hamlet, Eastern France claim to have seen a ghostly, equine silhouette in the night between October 6th and 7th." she read aloud, "According to their testimony, they could see the galloping horse but even though he ran by closely, there was no sound to be heard. The Ministry of Magic has dispatched a team of experts, but they were unable to confirm-"

Suddenly the girl straightened up with a gasp and ran over to the kitchen counter, standing on the tips of her toes so she could peer over it at her friend.  
"Mr. Ollivander, that's it!" she yelped happily, "Don't you think a hair from that Unicorn's mane would make the perfect core for your perfect wand? We should go find him!"

Ollivander shot her a cross look.  
"N-now, my dear, let's not confuse legends with reality." he said, somewhat sternly, "There's no evidence that creature even exists."

"But those people've seen it!"

"They're just trying to bring some tourists to town with folk-tales." persisted the bony man stubbornly, "Don't believe it for one second."

He turned around to continue cooking, but Mimi clicked her tongue in irritation and ran around the counter to grab the end of his vest and tug on it.

"Oh, come on, you _must_ believe he's real!" she accused angrily, "Look, you've put the story about him on your wall! I bet you were thinking the same thing I am – that Unicorn is _perfect_, Mr. Ollivander, come oooon – let's go find him!"

She promptly let go of the man's vest when the watery-blue eyes glared at her, this time looking genuinely annoyed.  
"That's enough, y-young lady." he managed to sound strict while stammering, "I put that up a long time ago when I was much younger and much more foolish. These legends are just that. A-and, besides…"

He looked away sadly.  
"Even if h-he were real," Ollivander grumbled, "I'm no adventurer. I'd get lost in that forest sooner than find him…and even if I _did_ find him, how would I-"

"You're just making up reasons not to go!" Mimi exploded in irritation, "You shouldn't think about it that way – let's just go and _try_! It would be fun!"

Watery eyes gave her a shrewd look.  
"Weren't you eager to go home?"

"Er- w-well…yeah." Mimi admitted grouchily, turning red in the face as she glared away embarrassedly, "B-but…you helped me out and I want to do the same for you! I'm sure I can find that Unicorn for you and-"

"Enough about the Unicorn, Mimi." Ollivander interrupted her as he poured a steaming pile of soft spaghetti into a large bowl, "He doesn't exist. And even if he did, you're only a wee lass, there's no way I'd bring you hunting for dangerous magical creatures even on the off chance I ever went."

"But-"

"Pack it in, lass." she was interrupted sternly again, "I don't want to argue over this further. Let's have dinner and tomorrow we'll see about sending you home to your family."

Mimi pouted as she helped Ollivander set the table and then while they ate. She mellowed up a bit when she got a huge helping of chocolate pudding after dinner, but still felt offended by the man's unwillingness to even try anything exciting.

What was he so afraid of? Having fun, heaven forbid? Even if he was nice, he was a huge stick in the mud, the girl decided. The sooner she went home to her _fun_ family the better.

"_If they'll have me back after all this…"_ a nagging thought remained even after she went to bed on the soft sofa in the living room. She slept that night, haunted by nightmares of rejection and loneliness.

**~~~ End of Chapter 4 ~~~**

**~ Next Time~**

**_"7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France will depart in ten minutes from platform seven and 2/8s," it declared, "7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France…" _**

**_"MONTIGNY-LE-ROI, can't you see!" Ollivander hollered up at the confounded Snape, "She's gone to chase the unicorn! She's going after it, oh – MERLIN, she-" _**

**_No time to wonder why or how he was obeying this order, Ollivander squeezed his eyes shut and just blindly steered the broom towards the sound of the running train.  
"Oh Merlin - oh, Merlin, oh MEEEERLLLIIIIINNNN!" _**


	7. Chapter 5

**Chapter Five: Flying Over England**

The next day, Ollivander had woken Mimi up at the brink of dawn. They had breakfast while the sun was rising and, just as they finished eating, Ollivander's door bell went off.  
"Ah, that would be Ulysses!" the bony man declared cheerfully and went to answer the door.

A moment after, he came back to the living room, accompanied by a round fellow with a cheerful face and twinkling brown eyes. He looked the way Mimi would imagine Santa would without a beard.

"Well then, you're the famous time-traveler, are you?" he boomed good-naturedly as he leaned in towards the girl who was still munching on some waffles distrustfully, "You're the talk of the Ministry, I'll have you know. Everyone's eager to meet you."

"Did you happen to bring-"

"Ah, yes!" Ulysses grinned as he took a bundle wrapped in brown paper from the bag slung across his shoulder and handed it to Mimi with flourish, "This is for you, lass – a change of clothes so that you draw less attention on the street. They were my daughter's, but she's outgrown them."

"G-go change, my dear." Ollivander told Mimi as she took the offered clothes, eyeing the brown wrapping suspiciously, "We'll leave as soon as you're done. There's a paper bag in the kitchen for you to pack your things after you've changed out of them."

Mimi went to obey, but then she hesitated for a split second, before turning to Ulysses, crimson red in the face.  
"T-thank you, mister." she mumbled out before dashing off into the bathroom.

"Heh, heh…cute little thing." the stocky man snickered fondly before turning to Ollivander, "Thank _you_ for the sleepless night I spent outside your building, by the way."

"Ah…yes, sorry about that, chap." Ollivander replied while scratching the back of his neck ruefully, "I didn't want to take any chances…that wizard chasing her looked like a right suspicious character. Thank you for your hard work."

"No trouble, no trouble…that's what Aurors are for." Ulysses waved it off good-naturedly, "In any case, Dorian feels confident we'll be able to send the lass home today. I'll escort you to the train station where a special entrance has been prepared that will take you straight to the Department of Magical Transportation."

"Good grief, they've put a lot of effort and resources into this."

"Yes, well, it's not every day they get to research a real time-travel case." Ulysses chuckled knowingly, "Just a few answers from the lass could give them a ten years worth of research."

"Well…that is true…"

The bathroom door opened and Mimi patted out hesitantly, holding Patchy and a bundle of her own clothes to her chest tightly. She was now dressed in a lovely, pale-brown set consisting of a tweed jacket and a short skirt of matching material and colour under which swells of white, fluffy lace were visible and were making it slightly puffed up. Crisp-white shirt and stockings completed the image and, in absence of other footwear, Mimi had put on her own black, lace-up boots that kind of stood out, but not terribly.

"Ha!" Ulysses exploded into a single, loud chuckle, "Perfect! Now let's make tracks while the sun is low – gather round, gather round."

"Why?" Mimi asked as she walked over and took Ollivander's hand while the man clasped hands with the Auror.

"We're going to Apparate." the bony man told her, "It's a way in which Wizards travel."

"But I don't know how to- GAH!" Mimi got cut off by the feeling of a hook pulling on the middle of her stomach and nearly let go off Ollivander's hand in shock.

However, the man's bony hand squeezed down on hers securely over the feeling of being jerked roughly and rapidly from one place to another. Before Mimi knew her left from her right, clamor of the crowd and traffic exploded into existence around her and she opened her eyes to realize that all three of them were right on the stairs of the King's Cross train station.

The girl let go of Ollivander's hand to run around the two men a bit, mouth agape and huge, dark-blue eyes wide in wonder.  
"Wh- did we-" she gasped as she looked around to ensure that they _were_ really suddenly in a completely different place, "This is so cool!"

She dashed back to Ollivander and grabbed his sleeve, grinning and bouncing in place.  
"Teach me how to do that!" she ordered excitedly, "Teach me, teach me!"

"They'll teach you that in school when you're old enough." Ollivander replied fondly, patting the top of the girl's excited head while Ulysses observed amusedly, "Now let's get a move on – we wouldn't want the Ministry to wait for us, now would we?"

They all walked into the train station and then up to an old, rundown telephone booth that had an "out of order" sign hanging on it. Ulysses came up to it and patted it with his wand exactly three times slowly and then four more quickly.

Tap – tap – tap – taptaptaptap.

Nothing happened. The Auror glanced down at his wand, looking perplexed.  
"Bother, I told them this new system wouldn't work." he grumbled as he tried tapping the sequence again.

Concernedly, Ollivander patted over to help.  
"Are you sure everything's alright with your wand? Let me look…"

As they fiddled with the machine and Ulysses' wand, Mimi sighed and turned around with her arms around Patchy and her bundle of clothes to look at the crowd. She could hear the sound of trains arriving or leaving or simply passing through in the distance and sighed wistfully.

"I'd never been on a train…" she said to Patchy softly, ignoring the two wizards who were intently focused on the old machine behind her, "I wish I could travel somewhere like all these people…"

Somewhere like Eastern France for example. Mimi sighed, thinking how exciting it would be to go chasing after the mythical unicorn and the secrets he may hold. Glancing back at Ollivander who was still busy with his friend, the girl frowned a little.  
"I wonder why he's so stubborn about not finding the unicorn…" he said to Patchy ponderingly, "he wouldn't even hear me out. I know that, if it were you and me, we'd…"

She trailed off as a curious group of people suddenly appeared from behind a corner nearby. Three man and a woman were all dressed in bizarre, floppy kind of long, brown overcoats and were hauling huge cases of luggage and long items wrapped in brown paper whose shape suspiciously reminded of brooms. One especially large piece of luggage towered over them all, a big, long box covered in a brown sheet that was securely tied down. It moved on its own after the bizarre group.

They seemed to be lost, looking around while arguing among each other vigorously. Mimi snickered to Patchy softly.  
"You know, I think I'm getting good at recognizing wizards and witches…"

Though she wanted to go up to them and ask a billion questions, the girl reluctantly turned away from them, back to the two wizards who were _still_ fiddling with the phone booth. They seemed to be trying to use Ollivander's wand to open the entrance now.

However, despite her best intention to stay put and keep her nose out of other people's business, Mimi couldn't help but whip around with a gasp when the woman of the group she'd just seen cried out in frustration, loudly enough for the girl to hear her.  
"Oh for Pete's sake!" she snapped, "If you can't even find the right platform, we don't stand a chance finding that unicorn!"

At that moment, a female voice came, not through the speakers but from _everywhere_, echoing throughout the station and only Mimi and the strange group of people seemed to be able to hear it, while the Muggle-folk kept obliviously on their merry way.  
_"7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France will depart in ten minutes from platform seven and 2/8s,"_ it declared, _"7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France…"_

The group looked relieved at the declaration and rushed towards the said platform enthusiastically. Mimi frowned a little, trying to wrap her childish mind around something. She was never very good at geography, but wasn't there some kind of water mass between England and France? The only way a _train_ could get there would be if it were…  
"A magical flying traaaaain!" Mimi uttered, instantly starry-eyed at the awesomeness of the very idea. But wait…_that_ meant…

"They're going after the unicorn!" Mimi gasped in shocked realization, "Oh! Oh! We have to- I- um- ack! …MR. OLLIVANDER!"

She ran over to the bony man, grabbing the edge of his coat.  
"Mr. Ollivander, Mr. Ollivander, I just saw some wizards and-"

"That's nice, dear, but keep your voice down, we don't want Muggles to hear." the wandmaker replied absentmindedly as he and Ulysses were now trying to open up the telephone booth and figure out what was wrong with it.

"N-no, you don't understand, they're going-"

"Mimi, dear, we're trying to work here." he interrupted her sternly, "Be a good girl and hush down until we're done."

"B-but…" Mimi breathed helplessly, constantly glancing over her shoulder so that she could see where the group of wizards was going. When they ducked behind a corner, her dark-blue eyes flashed angrily and the girl stomped her foot and tossed the bundle of clothes she was holding to the pavement before unceremoniously dashing after them.

Ollivander and Ulysses didn't even notice she left, as they were now shoulders-deep inside the machine, discussing on how to fix it.

Mimi ran after the bizarre group until they reached platform seven and ducked behind a large rubbish bin to better observe their next move.  
"What in the world are they doing, Patchy?" she whispered, squinting at the odd group as they gathered around one of the supporting pillars next to the railway, "There's no such thing as platform seven and-"

She trailed off in awe as, one by one, all of the wizards walked straight into one of the walls of the pillar and disappeared from sight. A dumbstruck moment later, she grinned and dashed out of here hiding place and towards the invisible passage.  
"Magical wall, magical wall, magical-!" Mimi shouted excitedly as she too ran into the brick barrier and disappeared through, leaving the Muggle side of the world none the wiser.

Over at the telephone booth a tall shadow fell on the two wizards who were now both elbow-deep in the machine, trying to fix it or at least communicate to the Ministry that it was out of order.

Snape glared down at them with a bitter scowl on his face. He'd done a bit of scrying over the night and was now sleep-deprived and annoyed at having found out that _these_ two bumbling idiots were respectively the past versions of the history's most accomplished wandmaker and high official of the Order of Phoenix.

_And_, looking at the very familiar pile of discarded clothing on the pavement, they were also the very same bumbling idiots who found the stupid girl he'd been chasing for far too long now.

When another minute passed and the two wizards failed to notice Snape standing menacingly above them, the black-haired wizard cleared his throat pointedly, causing them both to jump and whip around to face him.  
"_Where_ is she?" Snape growled darkly, his pitch-black eyes _daring_ them to pretend they didn't know what he was talking about when Mimi's peculiar clothing lay in a heap at his feet.

Ulysses immediately pointed his wand at Snape.

"Stay where you are!" he shouted, making Snape twitch angrily since he sure as bloody hell wasn't planning on _leaving_ until he found the stupid child.

"Put that down before you hurt yourself, you spectacular imbecile." he snarled at the Auror, "Listen, the stupid girl's parents sent me after her – I need to bring her back before she messes up the past, not to mention that she's got a powerful magical artifact in her possession that is not for children to play with. Tell me where she is."

Ollivander gulped nervously, especially since Mimi was nowhere in sight. He glared up at the intimidating wizard, mustering some courage.  
"W-why would we believe you?" he demanded, albeit a bit timorously, "She's scared to death of you a-and let's be honest – your appearance doesn't exactly inspire confidence."

"Well _your_ appearance-" Snape began to snarl but stopped himself before blurting out that there was no way in Merlin's wide world he could link the stuttering, bumbling coward before him to the world's greatest wandmaker and war hero, "Gh- never mind that. Observe."

He reached into his coat and drew his own wand before pushing between the two men and stepping up to the telephone booth. Shoving shoulder first inside, Snape pushed his wand into the coin slot. A split second later the phone pinged and a female voice came from the receiver.

"Level Nine Ministry clearance." it said, causing Ollivander to gasp in shocked realization.

"You…you're with the Ministry?"

"Obviously." Snape growled curtly before yanking his wand out, "The identification system dates all the way to the 17th century and can detect even wands from the future if they have the Ministry seal. _Now_ will you listen to me?"

Ulysses hesitantly lowered his wand, his round face still suspicious.  
"If you're not a Dark Wizard," he said, "Then why's the poor girl so desperate to get away from you?"

Snape hesitated awkwardly before muttering something incomprehensible, making Ollivander blink and lean in politely.  
"What was that, sir?"

After a blood-shot glare, Snape gave up.  
"She thinks I want to murder her stuffed doll." he ground out before quickly adding, "Now where-"

"Why does she-"

"Because she is a stupid, _stupid_ child with an overactive imagination that's had me chasing after her through _two_ dimensions and her parents worried sick, can we disregard the lunacy for now?" Snape finally snapped, sobering up when both men gaped at him in shock, "Er…herm. In any case, I'll ask you one last time – where is Mimi Huggins?"

Ulysses blinked with a start, glancing around fruitlessly.  
"Seriously, where _is _she?" he wondered before a snarl coming from Snape startled him and he got grabbed by the collar by a livid, eyes-blazing wizard who got into his face menacingly.

"You are _not_ trying to tell me you've _lost_ the girl, now are you?" Snape hissed down at him furiously, "You are _not_ seriously, _honestly_ trying to tell me that you've LOST-"

Ollivander suddenly gasped in horror before hissing at the two men frantically.  
"SHHHHHH!" he shushed them, "Listen!"

"_7:30 train for Montigny-le-Roi, France is departing from platform seven and 2/8s presently."_

"Montigny-le-Roi…" the wandmaker uttered in shocked disbelief, causing Snape to do a confused double-take at him.

"What are you-"

"MONTIGNY-LE-ROI, can't you see!" Ollivander hollered up at the confounded Snape, "She's gone to chase the unicorn! She's going after it, oh – MERLIN, she-"

"Make sense, man!" Snape ordered with a sinking feeling in his gut, "Are you telling me the stupid girl left for _France_?"

"Yes!"

Ashen in the face, Snape took a step back in shock.  
"France." he said blankly, "…she's gone to France."

Ollivander gulped dryly as the man slowly turned around towards him.  
"Er- maybe we should-"

"I'VE CHASED HER THROUGH TWO DIMENSIONS OF SPACE AND TIME," Snape hollered at him furiously, "AND NOW SHE'S GONE TO FRANCE?"

Before either Ollivander or Ulysses could respond, he whirled around and sprinted off in a dramatic swirl of his black robes.

The wandmaker blinked confusedly but then Ulysses grabbed him by the collar and shouted in his ear.  
"After him, you daft tit!"

Meanwhile, Mimi edged along the new platforms, labeled in fractions rather than whole numbers and watched in awe as the wizarding population scurried about her unabashedly, everyone rushing towards their trains.  
"Unbelievable!" she gasped out, hysterically breathless, "Patchy, there's hundreds of them! Wizards and witches and- er- whatever those are…"

She said the last bit as she stepped back so that an ugly little goblin-thing could push a cart full of stacked chests past her. It gave her a sour glare as it went by.

It was an all-around amazing place! Vibrant, people dressed in colourful robes and pulling along trunks and suitcases that often jumped and struggled as though they were alive. A stocky fellow was pacing nervously in front of stacked-up cages full of all sorts of owls who hooted and flapped their wings as they blinked disapprovingly at the outside world.

"Richard, get back here right now!" a female voice shrieked just a split-second before a giggling boy zipped past Mimi, riding a very small broom. His angry mother followed instantly and Mimi grinned as they disappeared into the crowd. Just as a group of young men popped out, singing raucously.

"_Take a man's hand and he will be grand,  
whip him about and he'll give a shout,  
but cause him to pass on a wizarding lass  
and he'll go – alas, alas, ALAS!"_

They burst out laughing as they rushed off towards one of the trains and Mimi couldn't help but giggle herself.  
"What a silly song…" she remarked before her ears pricked up, finding something familiar in the noise of the crowd.

"Montigny-le-Roi, Montigny-le-Roi, last call for Montigny-le-Roi!" she heard somebody shout from a distance and gasped.

"It's leaving, we have to hurry!"

Just as she was about to run, a deep voice roared behind her, making her blood curdle in fear.  
"MISS HUGGINS!"

"The Plushie-hater!" Mimi gasped as she whipped around just in time to see Snape striding towards her furiously.

Without hesitating a second, she spun around and bolted, even as she heard Snape snarl in anger behind her.  
"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!" he shouted and Mimi distinctly felt something cold approaching from behind. Instinctively, she swatted at it with Patchy and it disappeared into nothingness.

Snape froze in his tracks with a gasp as, once again, a force knocked his wand out of his hand. He was forced to go chasing after it through the crowd while wondering.  
"What in the world _is_ in that doll…" he muttered as he finally managed to pick up his wand.

His black eyes sought out the familiar sight of long, whipping, black hair but it had become lost in the crowd.  
"Curses!" he grumbled and set off after her once again.

Mimi could hear his distinctive, heavy footsteps even in the crowd and looked around wildly for anything that could slow him down.  
"_Please, something – I need something to-"_ she thought frantically, not even noticing that she was squeezing Patchy tightly to her chest while running past the stacked cages of owls from earlier.

She just passed them when she thought she felt a faint pulse from inside her toy's straw body and then the sound of dozens of snaps came behind her, followed by a whirl of feathers, wing-flaps and hoots that made her skirt fly around her legs.

Glancing over her shoulder as she ran, Mimi gasped when she saw all the cages wide open and Snape trying to shield his eyes with his arms in a thick whirlwind of angry owls.

After a speechless second of shock, the girl burst out laughing hysterically as she ran along.  
"Oh my God, Patchy, look at THAT!" she screamed as she giggled, but there was no time for triumph now.

Platform 7 and 2/8s was right ahead, she could see the number on one of the supporting columns and the conductors were just shutting all the doors, priming the burgundy passenger cars for departure.  
"WAIT!" Mimi screamed put every ounce of energy she had into running even faster, but the train began grinding away.

Just as she was about to give up and stop, something grabbed Mimi by the collar and yanked her backwards. The girl screamed as her feet left the ground and she was pulled onto something narrow and securely against someone's bony frame.

Wait…bony?

"Mr. Ollivander!" she screamed and giggled and cried all at one as she whipped around and looked up at the man's ashen, but grinning face, "We- we're flying on a BROOMSTICK!"

"Q-quite right," Ollivander affirmed amusedly, even as he cringed at Snape's angry holler from bellow – something to do with breaking his bones he was sure, "A-and if we hurry we might just make it so hold on!"

Only now did Mimi think to look ahead and gasped as she realized they were zipping along, just above the crowd in pursuit of the accelerating train.

People screamed and ducked as they flew over their heads but with all the speed they were mustering, the train was still steadily increasing the gap between them.  
"How is that possible?" Mimi shouted, trying to be heard over the whistling wind and screaming people.

"M-magical train travel!" Ollivander shouted back, "How else would you get to France in two hours? We need to catch it before it goes into the sky tunnel!"

Mimi mouthed the two last words in awe before looking up at Ollivander with excited, cobalt eyes.  
"Well we'd better because I want to see a SKY TUNNEL!" she screamed and Ollivander chuckled ruefully before the broom buckled under them and shot through the air even faster.

"This is a one-time chance, Mimi – get ready to ju-" Ollivander began to holler as they surged through the air at whistling speed, but Mimi waved him off as she braced a foot against the broom below her.

"I'm way ahead of you, just bring us close!" she screamed excitedly, "Closer, Mr. Ollivander!"

No time to wonder why or how he was obeying this order, Ollivander squeezed his eyes shut and just blindly steered the broom towards the sound of the running train.

"Oh, Merlin - oh, Merlin - oh MEERLLLIIIINNN!"

He felt a small hand grab his collar and then the weight of, say, an eight year old girl, pulled him sideways. Equilibrium gone, Ollivander just screamed until he felt his shoulder hit something hard – a floor. Wonderful, solid, rumbling floor. Then inertia kicked in and he tumbled across it gratefully.

"Oof- ow, gh- Mer- gah!"

His head hit something and the tumbling was over so the bony man finally dared open his eyes and look around. He found that they landed on the very tail of the train, on the small veranda in the back of the last car. There were metal chairs and tables screwed into the floor where the passengers could sit and enjoy the fresh air and the view during their trip.

"M-Mimi?" he gasped out, suddenly remembering he was missing something, but one wild glance found the girl at the rail. She stood there, holding onto the metal bars, her pitch-black hair whipping behind her wildly as she stared at the beautiful countryside landscape…far, far belo- oh, MERLIN!

"Mimi!" Ollivander half-choked, half-shouted, "What are you doing, get back here!"

He struggled up to his feet while clutching to the door handle.  
"Get over here this instant!" Ollivander hollered in panic, "You're going to fall!"

Mimi glanced at him over her shoulder and the bony young man was startled to see her grinning full out.  
"No!" she shouted back excitedly, "You come here – you have to see this!"

"We're in a Sky Tunnel, for Merlin's sake! We're not even supposed to be outside!"

"But we're FLYING over England!"

"EXACTLY, WE'RE FLYING OVER ENGLAND!" Ollivander hollered back, "Come on, hold on to the rail and slowly come over!"

With a despairing sigh, Mimi rolled her eyes and then turned them back to the sun-bathed fields, now partially obscured by blushing morning clouds.  
"He doesn't get it…" she whispered to her stuffed scarecrow, "…but look, Patchy. We're…we're flying over England."

"MIMI!"

"Alright, alright, I'm coming!" she shouted back impatiently and then slowly edged her way along the safety rail until she could reach out and take Ollivander's extended, trembling bony hand.

The moment she did, the young man exhaled with relief and pulled her over, hugging her fiercely.  
"You are one troublesome child, Mimi Huggins." he half-choked, half-chuckled as he pulled her into the car and shut the door behind them.

Mimi just grinned back when he released her to stumble back and lean on the wall, paling horribly.  
"But Merlin, what have I- I mean, I've never- the breakneck flying and- oh my…my heart is…"

"You were _brilliant_!" Mimi cut him off determinedly, with a huge grin plastered all over her face, "And now – you're going to France to find that unicorn!"

Ollivander gulped as he looked up blankly.  
"I'm going to France to find that unicorn." he uttered with a nervous laugh, "…and I don't have a ticket

**~~~End of Chapter 5**

**Next Time:**

_**Another blast came, this time from the door Mimi and Ollivander had come through.  
"We're surrounded!" Mimi gasped, glancing up at Ollivander helplessly, "What do we do?"**_

* * *

_**"Mr. Ollivander, we have to run!" Mimi insisted when the lanky man looked torn, "We have to tell someone what they're doing!"**_

* * *

_**She felt herself flying through the air, hand outstretched but her fingers closed around nothing where the metal bar should've been.  
"I missed…"**_


	8. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6: The Birth of Finite Incantatem**

The air was getting pretty stuffy in the small passenger compartment where over a dozen witches and wizards had squeezed in. It was difficult to tell where one person ended and another one began, what with everybody wearing brown tweed robes over their simple black clothing.

"Gh- this is ridiculous, how much longer do we-" a tetchy-looking young witch began to complain just as the door slid open and a young man popped his head in, grinning. She was just about to redirect her ire at him, but one dazzling glint of that charismatic smile and a cheery twinkle of those cobalt eyes and her mouth snapped shut on its own accord.

"Sorry I'm late, you lot, I was- blimey, there's a lot of ye…" the blonde young man said cheerfully as he just barely managed to squeeze inside himself and close the door, "I'm happy to – mind the foot, mate – report that cars five and six have been sealed off. No civilians, just the corporation personnel."

"Good, nice job Westerly." said a plump older wizard approvingly.

"My pleasure, Mr. Chomsey, sir." Westerly replied with a grin, "Begin the briefing at your leisure."

"Very well then – let's not waste time." replied the chubby wizard whose name was apparently Mr. Chomsey, "I apologize for the cramped conditions, but I needed the core unit here together. We will set off for the woods the moment we get off the train – we _need_ to be there before nightfall. This is our last chance to find the blasted creature and I will make sure this unit keeps its impeccable record. As for-"

"Uh, sorry, question!" somebody called out genially and a dozen pairs of disapproving eyes glared over at Westerly, "Sorry, just wondering – Mr. Chomsey, sir – if all the other units failed to find the beastie, how are we supposed to track it down, then?"

"Aaaah, therein lies our brilliance!" Mr. Chomsey said grandly, not minding the interruption apparently as long as it gave him a chance to show off, "We won't go trudging away in the mud and dark like the rest of those fools! We will bring the unicorn to us with _this_!"

He struggled to free one of his chubby arms from where it was pinned down between him and the next wizard and then reached into his pocket, pulling out a fist-sized, glittering object.

The pretty light it gave off – shifting green to blue to violet to red and then back again, did make a couple of people present go "ooooh" and "aaaah", but only one person's jaw dropped in shock from the knowledge of what it actually _was_.

"No…don't tell me…" Westerly breathed in awe, his dark blue eyes huge in a mixture of shock and exhilaration, "Oh, that's BRILLIANT!"

"Yes, it is quite, isn't it." Mr. Chomsky nodded proudly.

"No, I'm serious – this is honestly, amazingly, mind-blowingly BRILLIANT!"

"Yes, yes, if I may quite say so-"

"I'll take it, then – if that's all right."

Mr. Chomsky blinked stupidly at the sudden change in conversation.  
"Say wha-" he began, several of his chins deflating before he broke off with a gasp as Westerly reached out and snatched the object from his hand, "Oi! Give that-"

"Sorry – can't let you lot catch the unicorn, now can I?" the blonde young man grinned brightly as he reached behind him and opened the door, dropping backward through it, "Have a nice day!"

"THIEF, CATCH HI-" was the last thing Westerly heard before slamming the door behind him and sealing it with his wand.

Just as he straightened up proudly, the door to the next five compartments slammed open and a mass of people in brown and black robes poured out.  
"THERE HE IS! GET HIM!"

"Oh…right…cars five and six…" he murmured vaguely as he tucked away his treasure in the inner pocket of his robes before unceremoniously dashing away from the raging crowd, towards the last car of the train.

* * *

"Now then, Mimi," Ollivander said, taking a deep breath while he was still recovering from the sheer stupidity of what they were doing, "why did you-"

"Oh, right!" the girl gasped, suddenly remembering, "That's what I was trying to tell you back then! I saw a bunch of wizards and witches – they were talking about coming here and hunting the unicorn! They had _tons_ of stuff and this HUGE- um- _thing_, I think it was a cage or something, it was SO big and-"

"What- hold on!" the bony man interrupted her, waving his hands, "What are you talking about - 'hunt the unicorn'? They can't- it's against the law, the unicorns must never be harmed. And forget the law, the sheer lack of any morals behind such an act is just-"

"But I _heard_ them, Mr. Ollivander!" Mimi insisted desperately, "They were all dressed the same too, like they were in uniforms or something and-"

"Now, stop it – you're just talking nonsense." Ollivander said sternly as he walked past her and grabbed the handle to the nearest compartment door, "You're saying there's some kind of uniformed organization of wizards who are out to do what no wizard would ever do and furthermore-"

He jerked the door open and fell mute as he encountered a compartment full of wizards and witches, all dressed in black and brown.  
"Uh…" he said lamely when all eyes in the compartment shot over in shock and Mimi gasped as she leaned in and glanced inside.

"That's them!"

One of the wizards rose in shock.  
"Who are you?" he demanded, "You're not with the corporation!"

Ollivander tried to say something, but no words would come out before the door snapped closed right in front of his nose. Glancing down, he spotted Mimi holding onto the handle with both hands.  
"Wrong car!" she squeaked out, but it was in vain.

"Intruders! Security breach!" a holler came from the compartment and the girl yelped and grabbed the stunned wandmaker's bony hand urgently, tugging on it.

"Runrunrunrun!" she screamed and Ollivander finally snapped out of his state of shock with a yelp before they both rushed down the narrow corridor.

The sound of doors snapping open one by one followed them, along with the thundering footsteps and shouts as more and more people in uniforms poured out of the compartments and chased after them.  
"Don't let them reach the engine room!" somebody hollered over all the chaos, but Ollivander didn't get to wonder on it as he reached the door leading to the connecting bridge between cars.

He jerked the door open in his stride and they dashed through a split second before the last compartment opened and uniformed chasers poured out. Fortunately, Ollivander managed to pull out his wand and zap the handle with it expertly. When he rattled it afterwards, it stood fast.  
"Did you lock that one?"

"Yes, but it won't hold for very long if they-" Ollivander suddenly trailed off and whipped around, just in time to encounter a toothy grin belonging to a blonde young man who was just sealing the door leading to the next car, "Who are you?"

"Sal Westerly, at your service." the young wizard said with a cheeky wink, "And who might you two be, then?"

"Er- I-"

"Don't tell him, Mr. Ollivander!" Mimi said, tugging on the man's bony hand, "He's dressed like those unicorn-hunters!"

"_You_ just told him _my_ name!" the wandmaker snapped down at her, but yelped as a loud blow came from the other side of the door Westerly sealed.

"We'll get you, Westerly, you thieving bastard – just you wait!" somebody shouted from the other side before another blow came, sounding like a miniature explosion.

Ollivander squinted at the young man suspiciously.  
"They're chasing you too?"

"Yep – can't say I blame them, though, I did steal their thingy." Westerly replied with a cheeky grin, "But why are they chasing _you_ lot, you're more than just stray passengers if you know about-"

Another blast came, this time from the door Mimi and Ollivander had come through.  
"We're surrounded!" Mimi gasped, glancing up at Ollivander helplessly, "What do we do?"

"N- How am _I_ supposed to know, I've never been chased in my life!" he snapped before glancing around for an escape route.

They were on the bridge connecting the cars – outside the safety rails it was all clouds and sky with England far, far below.

"Lucky for you – I'm a professional at being chased." Westerly said with a grin, staring at something to the left of one of the doors.

Mimi followed his look and then laughed hysterically.  
"A ladder!" she half-squeaked, half-screamed, "We can climb to the roof!"

"We can also jump right off, can't we?" Ollivander snapped back at them, "That's not a proper way out!"

"You have a better idea, then?" Westerly asked pointedly, cringing when an especially loud blast coming from his door caused it to shake in its hinges.

"Yes, matter of fact – I do!" the wandmaker hollered back angrily, "We can surrender, we didn't steal anything."

"What?" Mimi gasped, "We can't do _that_! Who knows what they'll do to us!"

"Whatever it is, it can't be worse than falling off a train in a sky tunnel!"

Westerly rolled his eyes and rushed to the ladder, grabbing onto it.  
"It's Ollivander, right?" he asked and the bony man nodded hesitantly, "Look, I know this lot, they don't exactly like leaving witnesses behind. At best they'll Obliviate you both, at worst…well, we _are_ talking about people who are off to hunt and harm _unicorns_."

"Mr. Ollivander, we have to run!" Mimi insisted when the lanky man looked torn, "We have to tell someone what they're doing!"

Westerly grinned down at her.  
"You're a smart kid," he said, "what's your name?"

"M-Mimi." Mimi said, feeling a little self-conscious suddenly, "Uh…and this is Patchy."

Explosions came from both doors, rendering them completely loose.  
"COME ON!" Westerly roared with a grin before climbing up and Mimi didn't wait one second to follow.

"Mr. Ollivander, let's go!"

Ollivander watched helplessly as they both climbed up and disappeared to the roof. Between the near-suicidal escape route and the rattling of the decimated door behind him, his basic impulse was to freeze up, the way he always would in an emergency.

Shutting his watery-blue eyes, the wandmaker took a deep breath to brace himself.  
"Merlin, what am I doing…"

Mimi reached the roof of the car and climbed over the edge with surprising ease. She was expecting a gush of wind to push her back, like in the movies, but was met only with a gentle breeze. Looking above, she saw the clouds zipping past, creating some sort of tunnel-shape around the train as it traveled across the sky on invisible rails.

"Sky tunnel…" she whispered, a grin spilling over her face just a split second before somebody grabbed her by the collar from behind and pulled her along.

"Daydream when we're safe, if you don't mind, my dear." a familiar voice said just a split second before Mimi heard a crash behind her and the sound of shouting voices as people poured out into the bridge from the car.  
"Mr. Ollivander!" she gasped, looking up, before she practically tackled him, "I knew you'd come along!"

"Aaah!" the wandmaker screamed when he barely kept his balance because of the child clinging on his arm, "Don't _do_ that! Come on, then – follow that idiot!"

"Oi!" Westerly shouted over disapprovingly from a little ways ahead, "I heard that!"

"You were supposed to!" Ollivander shouted back angrily, "And where are we going, anyway?"

"No clue!" Westerly shouted back, looking delighted at the fact, "We should keep away from the last two cars, though – they're crawling with the corporation."

"Corporation?" the wandmaker repeated in disbelief, "What are you on about?"

"I think he means those guys." Mimi said in a trembling voice and Ollivander's head snapped back just in time for him to see their uniformed chasers climbing to the roof after them.

"Yes, the Corporation," Westerly spoke on, oblivious as he gingerly walked along the roof, minding not to lose balance on the wobbly surface, "That's what they call themselves at any rate. I've been tagging them for years with some mates and managed to infiltrate just last- oi!"

He gasped out the last bit as Mimi and Ollivander rushed past him from behind which made him glance back and see the pursuit.  
"Oh, bugger!" he shouted before he set off running after them.

"We need to reach at least ONE car with regular passengers!" Westerly hollered as he ran a step behind Ollivander and Mimi, "They won't be so keen to apprehend us in front of witnesses!"

"We _need_ to tell the authorities!" Ollivander snapped back, but Westerly shook his head.

"They won't believe us without proof." he panted, "Why do you think I'm going around getting chummy with them – I'm looking for evidence, the kind that the Corporation won't be able to explain away that easily."

"You mean like stuff used to hunt unicorns?" Mimi piped up breathlessly, "The kind they brought with them?"

Both young men glanced down at her mutely before looking up at each other.  
"THE LUGGAGE CAR!" they exclaimed in unison and Westerly grinned down at Mimi excitedly.

"Oh, I _like_ you, Miss Mimi!"

"You're pretty awesome too, Mr. Westerly!" the girl giggled back just before somebody let out an angry holler behind them.

"PETRIFICUS TOTALUS!"

"Oh no they're not!" Westerly gasped out in shock, but the blast reached him just then.

Mimi screamed and put Patchy up as a shield and the spell bounced off them with an explosion of white sparkles. A second later, Westerly looked down and laughed hysterically.  
"I'm still running!" he shouted.

"They're still running!" one of their chasers cried out, "They've got some sort of deflection method!"

"How in blazes did you do that?" Ollivander gasped out in disbelief.

"Patchy saves me sometimes." Mimi replied, "That's all I know."

"I'll need to take a look at that doll later." Westerly said with an impressed whistle before he glanced up, "Ah, here we are – car four, I believe. All going down, the ladder's on the left side!"

"Is it?" Mimi asked uncertainly, causing Westerly to frown a bit.

"I think so…" he said vaguely before glancing at Ollivander, "Is it?"

"I DON'T KNOW, YOU CRAZY- er- LUNATICS!"

"That's us – stark, raving mad!" Westerly laughed excitedly, "Now – JUMP!"

Mimi held her breath, shut her eyes and lunged for the spot over the edge of the car where she _thought_ the ladder was, all just because this crazy person told her so with his toothy grin.

She felt herself flying through the air, hand outstretched but her fingers closed around nothing where the metal bar should've been.

"_I missed…"_

"Oh no you don't!" somebody hollered and Mimi felt an arm curl around her middle before yanking her back and against something soft. Opening her eyes she saw Sal's grinning face – he looked exhilarated.

"Blimey, I meant a _little_ jump, you almost missed the whole bridge, Miss Mimi." he laughed, making the girl flush red.

"You didn't _say_ a 'little' jump, you just said 'jump'." she grumbled back, still hanging from his arm, her toe-tips just barely brushing the metal surface of the bridge, "And where's Mr. Olli-"

"MEEERLIIINNN!" a scream broke out from above and Sal whipped around just in time to catch a screaming, flying wandmaker in the crook of his other arm before all three of them went flying to the bridge floor backwards.

"Ha-HA, and here's the other one!" the blonde young man screamed with laughter before grabbing Ollivander by the collar to pull his head up, "I meant a _little_ jump!"

"YOU DIDN'T SAY A 'LITTLE' JUMP!" Ollivander hollered back furiously, "We could've-"

"They've gone over the edge!" somebody hollered from above and Mimi struggled to her feet with a gasp.

"RunrunrunRUN!" she screamed, pulling on Ollivander's hand.

Ollivander and Sal scrambled up to their feet before all three of them barged into the next car, just when the door to the previous one opened and a crowd of uniformed pursuers joined their comrades who were dropping from the roof.  
"Straight forward, we have to reach the luggage car!" Sal shouted as they rushed down the narrow corridor.

"Hang on, we're in the passenger car now!" Ollivander gasped in realization, "I've got an idea!"

He stopped and drew his wand, pointing it at the ceiling.  
"AVIS AUGREY!" he shouted and a flash of sparks exploded from his wand a split second before the car was filled with ear-piercing, mournful wails and wing-flaps. Mimi's jaw fell in shock when she looked up for the source to see a dozen small, black birds flying all around. They had naked, wrinkled necks and heads, like vultures and seemed to be frantically trying to hide from sight.

"You created _birds_?" Sal snapped at the wandmaker as the door at the far end of the corridor opened and the Corporation people began pouring through, "What good is that going to-"

He was cut off by the sound of all the passenger compartments' doors slamming open and the screams and chatter of people rushing out to see what was making the eerie noises. The corridor was chock-full in a second, allowing nothing and no one to pass through.

Sal shut his mouth and nodded, looking impressed.  
"Creating birds." he repeated slowly, a grin spreading over his face before he slapped Ollivander's shoulder, "HA! Nice trick!"

The bony man yelped, barely catching his round glasses as they flew forward.  
"Th-thank you." he managed a timorous grin, "I- I might get rid of the wails in the future, though."

"And make them less ugly." Mimi piped in cheerfully.

"THAT IS IT!" somebody hollered from way across the crowded corridor, sounding royally pissed off, "I'VE HAD IT! Send the Lethifold after them!"

Sal and Ollivander paled at the very same time, their eyes shooting towards the end of the car and then back to exchange horrified looks of disbelief.  
"Did they say…" Sal began, but Ollivander shook his head vehemently.

"Don't be daft, they can't have tame _Lethifolds_!" he snapped, "Who has tame Lethi- oh, my Merlin…"

Sal followed his look and went stark white, dark-blue eyes widening in horror.  
"And Morgana's knickers…"

He trailed off in horrified shock as something black puffed itself up above the screaming passengers' heads. Not just one – two, three of flowing, silky-looking black sheets went swirling into the air, hissing hungrily.

Mimi backed away a couple of steps in terror as those familiar creatures of nightmare flew into view. She knew what they were, oh she knew…  
"Sheet Monsters…" she uttered as she watched them grow.

Ollivander's birds, now in panic, flew into them and would get enveloped and then consumed instantly while the creatures swirled forward.  
"Oh, I'm sorry…" Ollivander gasped when it saw it happening, "I'm so sorry…"

"We're out of here." Sal commanded in an uncharacteristically grave voice.

"What?" Ollivander snapped angrily, "What about all these pe-"

He cut himself off when he met the blonde man's dark blue eyes. They were now fierce and imposing and the young man himself looked at least a decade older.  
"Those things are chasing us." he said, "We run, they follow. That's the only thing we can do – now MOVE!"

He shouldered his way past the wandmaker and through the door leading to the next car. With a dry gulp, Ollivander nodded and glanced over his shoulder one last time to see the Lethifold halfway through the car, still feasting on his birds as they went along.

"T-those Augries were tucked away s-safe in their nests somewhere just a minute ago." the wandmaker stammered, feeling a lump rise in his throat, "Suddenly they got yanked here…terrified, in the broad open, shrieking in panic and looking for a place to hide where there wasn't any…"

Mimi paused, looking up at the young wizard who was in the brink of tears. She glanced at the panicked birds and her chest felt tight. They'd all get eaten by the time the Sheet Monsters reached this end of the car.

Suddenly, her eyes flew wide and she grabbed Ollivander's bony hand with both her own, tugging on it.  
"Send them back!" she gasped, making the young man glance down at her confusedly.

"What-"

"Can you send them back, is there a way, Mr. Ollivander?" the girl elaborated impatiently, "Like- like an anti-spell or something! There's got to be, I mean – what do wizards _do_ when a spell goes wrong?"

"I don't…I never thought about that…" he said slowly, "There _should_ be a reversing spell, why don't I know one…?"

"Make it up!" Mimi ordered, "You make _wands_, those are more complicated then spells, right? Right?"

After a pause, Ollivander suddenly straightened up, eyes flashing determinedly and pointed his wand at the shrieking Augrey.

"FINITE," he roared while a white light suddenly started spreading from the tip of his wand, "INCANTATEM!"

**~~~TBC…**

**A/N: Uh...hello? Anybody out there? I don't mean to whine but a review or two would be nice now and again - I'm working blind here, no idea if anybody even likes this whole mess of a story. O.O  
**


End file.
